Jonathan Levin is an academic economist who now runs one of the most influential universities in the world. He tells Steve how he saved Comcast a billion dollars, why he turned down Steve’s unusual pitch to come to the University of Chicago, and why being a nice guy makes him a better college president. SOURCE : Jonathan Levin , president of Stanford University. RESOURCES: " Income Segregation and Intergenerational Mobility Across Colleges in the United States ," by Raj Chetty, John N Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan ( The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2020). " Jonathan Levin: The Most Recent John Bates Clark Medal Winner ," by Steve Levitt ( Freakonomics Blog, 2011). " Winning Play in Spectrum Auctions ," by Jeremy Bulow, Jonathan Levin, and Paul Milgrom ( NBER Working Paper, 2009). " Information and Competition in U.S. Forest Service Timber Auctions ," by Susan Athey and Jonathan Levin ( Journal of Political Economy, 2001). EXTRAS: Vintage Pokémon card pack Instagram video , by Tyler Thrasher (2025). " Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed? " by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023). " How Much Are the Right Friends Worth? " by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
