Special guest star Libby Nelson joined Matt Yglesias and me this week so we could take on a topic that lots of Weeds listeners have been asking us to discuss: education policy. We spend a whole lot of time talking about No Child Left Behind and its newly passed successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act.
The Weeds: replacing No Child Left Behind, wonky March Madness, and Uber’s productivity
Also in this episode: an examination of the strange history and economics behind the NCAA’s nonpayment of athletes, and a breakdown of some new research on why Uber works. As always, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and email us at weeds@vox.com!
Show notes:
- Libby’s explainer on the Every Student Succeeds Act
- Another great Libby piece, on the scariest lesson of No Child Left Behind
- Taylor Branch’s Atlantic article “The Shame of College Sports”
- Joe Nocera’s new book, Indentured
- Libby’s piece on a college basketball team that only graduates 8 percent of its players
- This map shows that most states’ highest-paid employee is a college football coach
- The Big Scrum tells the story of FDR’s involvement with the creation of the NCAA
- Live every day like it’s NBER day! This is our white paper of the week.
