The Weeds: replacing No Child Left Behind, wonky March Madness, and Uber's productivity

Special guest star Libby Nelson joined Matt Yglesias and me this week so we could take on a topic that lots of Weeds listeners have been asking us to discuss: education policy. We spend a whole lot of time talking about No Child Left Behind and its newly passed successor, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Also in this episode: an examination of the strange history and economics behind the NCAA's nonpayment of athletes, and a breakdown of some new research on why Uber works. As always, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and email us at weeds@vox.com!

Show notes:

• Libby's explainer on the Every Student Succeeds Act
• Another great Libby piece, on the scariest lesson of No Child Left Behind
• Taylor Branch's Atlantic article "The Shame of College Sports"
• Joe Nocera's new book, Indentured
• Libby's piece on a college basketball team that only graduates 8 percent of its players
• This map shows that most states' highest-paid employee is a college football coach
• The Big Scrum tells the story of FDR's involvement with the creation of the NCAA
• Live every day like it's NBER day! This is our white paper of the week.

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