Matthew Lucky

Matthew Lucky is the assistant director of programs at the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He received his PhD in Political Science from Indiana University and holds master's and bachelor's degrees from Arizona State University. His research focuses on the intersection of democratic theory and science & technology studies. A central point of focus for his scholarship is the incorporation of artificial intelligence into state bureaucracies and the public sphere. Matt’s research has been published in Political Theory and the Marcusean Mind, and he has taught courses in government at Indiana University.

Can Education Survive AI?

Stigler Center Assistant Director Matt Lucky reviews Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan’s recent book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That’s a Good Thing). The book presents an optimistic vision for the educational and pedagogical role of AI-assisted chatbots as personal tutors and teaching assistants. Khan discusses his book with Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales on this week’s Capitalisn’t episode, which you can listen to here.

What Happens After the Dollar’s Hegemony Ends?

Stigler Center Assistant Director Matt Lucky reviews Kenneth Rogoff’s new book, Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance, and the Road Ahead, which reflects on the rise and ongoing fall of the American dollar’s global dominance. Rogoff discusses his book with Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales on this week’s Capitalisn’t episode, which you can listen to here.

Returning Antitrust to the People

Stigler Center Assistant Director Matt Lucky reflects on the comments from his panel on competition advocacy at the 2025 Stigler Center Antitrust and Competition Conference. He weighs the meaning and possibility for a democratically legitimate antitrust and competition policy.

Democrats Should Talk Like Normal People

Assistant Director Matt Lucky, Ph.D., reviews Joan Williams’ new book, Outclassed, which reflects on the Democratic Party’s loss of what she calls “middle-status” voters. Williams discusses her book with Bethany McLean and Luigi Zingales on this week’s Capitalisn’t episode, which you can listen to here.

The Political Economy of Fertility

Stigler Center Assistant Director of Programs Matthew Lucky traces the history of ideas about population growth and its relation to welfare from Malthusian concerns of a population bomb to contemporary studies correlating declining birth rates in developed countries with increased investments in human capital and GDP per capita. Scholars now debate what it means for a society to have populations that do not simply stop growing, but rapidly shrink.

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