Good on Paper

About Good on Paper

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.

Publisher

The Atlantic

Category

government · news · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 May 2024

Latest episode

13 May 2025

Latest episodes

51 of 52 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   13 May 2025TRANSCRIPT

   The Myth of the Poverty Trap

   Economist Paul Niehaus discusses the dramatic decline of global extreme poverty since 1981 and explores strategies for its potential elimination, offering insights into effective poverty reduction.

2. 

   6 May 2025TRANSCRIPT

   The Death of Feminism

   Atlantic staff writer Sophie Gilbert discusses her book, Girl on Girl, and explores how the rise of internet pornography may have impacted feminism in the 1990s in this interview.

3. 

   29 Apr 2025TRANSCRIPT

   The Problem of Finding a Marriageable Man

   Economist Benny Goldman analyzes the college gender gap and its impact on marriage rates, revealing that non-college-educated women and low-earning men are more affected, offering insights into societal shifts.

Inside a recent episode

The Myth of the Poverty Trap

Published 13 May 2025 · Transcript excerpt

[…] The why? So why did poverty fall? And of course, many of the great debates that we have about global development process are about the why. You know, was it because India liberalized in the early 1990s? How much did that contribute? But this is a paper about how? Descriptively, if we look at all these people who moved out of extreme poverty, like what happened in their lives, right? Is it that kids were able to start out life much better than their parents did because they had access to better schooling or other early childhood investments? Is it that people moved out of agriculture? They moved to the city and were able to get a manufacturing job as they moved off the farm? […]

Who has been a guest on Good on Paper

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Paul Niehaus
• Sophie Gilbert
• Benny Goldman
• Steve Teles
• Zeve Sanderson

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.4 / 5

362 ratings

Spotify

4.6 / 5

292 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 63 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

90

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

90

Contact Good on Paper

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Good on Paper