149. Stanford’s President Knows He Can’t Make Everyone Happy

People I (Mostly) Admire

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).