
Good on Paper
The Atlantic - theatlantic.com
Latest episode: Tue May 13 2025
Have you ever heard a commonly held belief or a fast-developing worldview and asked: Is that idea right? Or just good on paper? Each week, host Jerusalem Demsas and a guest take a closer look at the facts and research that challenge the popular narratives of the day, to better understand why we believe what we believe.
51 total episodes
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May13The Myth of the Poverty Trap54mins
May6The Death of Feminism46mins
Apr29The Problem of Finding a Marriageable Man48mins
Apr22Minority Rule in America53mins
Apr15Can We Stop Kids From Watching Porn?50mins
Apr8Did Busing Turn Kids Into Democrats?53mins
Apr1In Search of 100-Year-Old Paper Trails50mins
Mar25Politicians Think Voters Are Dumb. Are They Right?59mins
Mar18Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein on Abundance80mins
Mar11The Scientific Controversy That’s Tearing Families Apart50mins
Mar4Best of: Is Wokeness Dead?44mins
Feb25The Human-Neanderthal Love-Story Mystery52mins
Feb18The Real Origins of Public Education63mins
Feb11The Great Political Sorting of American Offices56mins
Feb4Why Is One Chicago Neighborhood Twice as Deadly as Another?56mins
Jan28Why States Took a Gamble on Sports Betting53mins
Jan21Is Elon Musk Right About Big Government?53mins
Jan14The Scientist vs. the Machine51mins
Jan7The Political Psychology of NIMBYism55mins
Dec31RFK Jr.'s 'Seeds of Truth'50mins
Dec24Best of: Are Young Men Really Becoming More Sexist?49mins
Dec17Do Voters Reward Good Policy?53mins
Dec10How to Solve a Housing Crisis52mins
Dec3The Evidence on Policing and Crime48mins
Nov26Is Ambivalence Killing Parenthood?53mins
Nov19The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race46mins
Nov12An Election Post-Mortem With Tim Miller44mins
Nov5The Truth About Immigration and Wages52mins
Oct29Can Corporate Greed Really Explain Inflation?57mins
Oct22Why Do Black People Vote for Democrats?57mins
Oct15The Quiet Trump-Harris Trade Agreement57mins
Oct8What Really Fueled the ‘East Asian Miracle’?47mins
Oct1Would You Give Up Your Kidney for $50,000?49mins
Sep24Why Does Crime Go Up When School Starts?43mins
Sep17How (Not) to Change Someone's Mind48mins
Sep10The Wandering Officer42mins
Sep3Who's Responsible for the Housing Crisis?61mins
Aug27How Slaves Used the Law49mins
Aug20Is Wokeness Dead?45mins
Aug13Running-Mate Myths with Matt Yglesias52mins
Aug6What Do We Really Know About the Maternal-Mortality Crisis?39mins
Jul30Why Is Texas Beating California on Wind and Solar?52mins
Jul23Can Religion Make You Happier?36mins
Jul16A Remarkable School-Choice Experiment44mins
Jul9Are We Talking About Therapy Too Much?50mins
Jul2The Coming Labor Shortage Is Not Good News42mins
Jun25Are Young Men Becoming More Sexist?50mins
Jun18Who Really Protests, and Why?39mins
Jun11The Truth About Immigration and Public Opinion41mins
Jun4The Great Remote-Work Experiment39mins
May14Introducing: Good on Paper1min