#480 — The Economics of Everything
From Making Sense with Sam Harris by Sam Harris
June 12, 2026 · 25 min
About this episode
Sam Harris speaks with economist Noah Smith about various economic issues including national debt, wealth inequality, and the impact of AI.
Sam Harris speaks with economist and Substack writer Noah Smith about the U.S. national debt, wealth inequality, and the economic consequences of AI. They discuss the mechanics of debt and inflation, the case for fiscal austerity, why the U.S. squandered low interest rates, modern monetary theory, how AI may restructure labor and ownership, the anti-billionaire politics of the American left, the degrowth movement and its failures, demographic decline and fertility trends, the role of smartphones in eroding democratic culture, and other topics. If the Making Sense podcast logo in your player is BLACK, you can SUBSCRIBE to gain access to all full-length episodes at samharris.org/subscribe .
People in this episode
Host: Sam Harris
Guest: Noah Smith
Topics covered
- U.S. national debt
- wealth inequality
- economic consequences of AI
- debt and inflation
- fiscal austerity
- modern monetary theory
- demographic decline
Keywords
- national debt
- wealth inequality
- AI
- inflation
- fiscal austerity
- modern monetary theory
- demographic decline
- smartphones
- democratic culture
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Substack
Places: U.S.
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