Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger

Assistant Professor at Chapman University; Fellow, MIT IDE and Stanford DEL; Co-host of Justified Posteriors Podcast

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

We’re launching the Justified Posteriors Podcast, co-hosted by Andrey Fradkin and me - Seth Benzell.

Thanks to Tyler for today’s shoutout -- he’s a key inspiration.

We evaluate research on the Economics of AI and Tech, with a good helping of wit and light hearted irreverence.

[Erik Brynjolfsson @erikbryn]

I'm old enough to remember when the complaint about big companies was that they were hoarding cash or using it for stock buybacks, instead of investing in future growth.

[Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur]

Wembanyama has 7 points on 2-4 shooting and just ended the first half with a hideous turnover. Knicks are doing a great job taking him out of the offense, making the other Spurs beat them. Smart strategy. Will pay off if it persists.

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

@erikbryn VAT plus rebate here we goooooooo

[Kevin A. Bryan @Afinetheorem]

Thanks to Andrey and Seth for having me on. We covered why and where AI will diffuse slow, Chinese AI, what grad students should do, taste, what types of research are now higher value, and a bunch more...

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

https://t.co/sly3sfSMbH

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

This week on Justified Posteriors, @AndreyFradkin and I hosted a hero of mine from grad school - @Afinetheorem. It was his writing that inspired me about the potential of theory and big picture thinking to transform the way we see the world, during the depths of grad school depression.

Tune in to hear his takes on what economic theorists should be working on now, AI in the US vs China, and what’s more important: O-Rings or ringworms.

And if you’re an old-school AFT fan, stay to the end to hear what he thinks today about his provocative 2019 Nobel Prize take!

[B2H2 @basilh_2]

15% through but this is excellently clear

[Basil Halperin @BasilHalperin]

slopchart, though i did some sanity checking

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

@dom_coey @AndreyFradkin Berekeley less wierd than Sartre is way off

[Andrey Fradkin @AndreyFradkin]

Coming Monday, a fun episode with @Afinetheorem including discussions of bottlenecks and AI in China, as well as many hot takes.

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

@BenSManning the power to simulate a setting with AI is nothing compared to the power of raw ideation/the Force

[Basil Halperin @BasilHalperin]

2026 update (=2025 data)

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

@dom_coey One other takeaway I think is that people (including Seb) have an intuition that these negotiations will have less social legitimacy than a democratic vote. But I look at the crazy legislative outcomes of, e.g. parliamentary many-party systems, and that's not so obvious imho.

[Seth Benzell - the LA-atic Stranger @SBenzell]

@AndreyFradkin quick pivot to whatever Aella researches

[Andrey Fradkin @AndreyFradkin]

I'll also be giving a talk at Manifest. It's a fun conference, please consider joining!

[Andrey Fradkin @AndreyFradkin]

Prediction markets are our best tool for aggregating dispersed information. In a new piece with @brian_jabarian and Andrew Koh, we explain how to use them to learn about AI's near-term labor market impacts. For these markets to work, donors (including large labs) need to seed capital to break the chicken-and-egg problem. Link below for the article.

[Séb Krier @sebkrier]

Very much enjoyed mumbling about AGI, Coase, and why techno is vastly superior to EDM. Thanks @AndreyFradkin & @SBenzell! https://t.co/ADcogn0RKm

[Alex Imas @alexolegimas]

Seb Krier everybody

(on Justified Posteriors with the dynamic duo of @AndreyFradkin & @SBenzell)

https://t.co/KykOulxBaM