Sam Hammond returns to the podcast today to discuss the free market welfare state. He and Will Wilkinson have both written articles in this area recently, and we discuss some of the concepts they bring up. Continue reading The Welfare State, Markets, and Social Insurance with Sam Hammond
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My guest for this episode is Scott Cunningham of Baylor University. We discuss his work on the decriminalization of indoor sex work and on the impact of Craigslist’s erotic services page on violence against women.
The working paper on Craigslist generated a lot of media attention, with articles at Huffington Post and ThinkProgress. The most quoted statistic is that “Craigslist erotic services reduced the female homicide rate by 17.4 percent.” We discuss this statistic, its possible causes, and whether or not it is implausibly large. Continue reading Sex Work, Craigslist, and Decriminalization with Scott Cunningham
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My guest today is Lyman Stone. He is an agriculture economist for the USDA, but our topic for this episode is his popular writing about migration. He blogs at In a State of Migration on Medium and co-hosts the podcast Migration Nation.
We discuss the history of migration restrictions in the United States, the economic impact of migration between and within nations, and the relationship between falling fertility and immigration. Continue reading Migration and Fertility with Lyman Stone
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This episode of the podcast features two guests, Zach and Kelly Weinersmith. Zach is the author of SMBC Comics, a popular webcomic that sometimes deals with advanced concepts in science, philosophy, economics, and other fields. Kelly is a professor in the Biosciences department of Rice University. Together they co-authored Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything.
To quote the book’s description,
In this smart and funny book, celebrated cartoonist Zach Weinersmith and noted researcher Dr. Kelly Weinersmith give us a snapshot of what’s coming next–from robot swarms to nuclear fusion powered-toasters. By weaving their own research, interviews with the scientists who are making these advances happen, and Zach’s trademark comics, the Weinersmiths investigate why these technologies are needed, how they would work, and what is standing in their way.
In this fun and lively conversation, we discuss some of the technologies discussed in the book: space elevators, asteroid mining, augmented reality, and programmable matter. We also discuss the tragic life of Gerald Bull, Canadian space cannon enthusiast.
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My guest on this episode is Shruti Rajagopalan of the State University of New York’s Purchase College.
We discuss Shruti’s work on constitutional political economy as it relates to India. We start by talking about the Indian constitution. India got its independence in 1947 and ratified a constitution shortly after in 1949. Interestingly, it is the most amended constitution in the world. Shruti argues “that the formal institutions of socialist planning were fundamentally incompatible with the constraints imposed by the Indian Constitution.” Continue reading Indian Constitutional Political Economy and the Bhopal Gas Tragedy with Shruti Rajagopalan
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Robin Hanson returns to the podcast to discuss his new book, The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life, co-authored with Kevin Simler. As the subtitle suggests, the book looks at humans’ hidden motives. Robin argues that these hidden motives are much more prevalent than our conscious minds assume. Continue reading The Elephant in the Brain, Hidden Motives, and Self-Deception with Robin Hanson
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My guest for this episode is Ennio Piano of George Mason University. Our topic is Ennio’s work on the economics of biker gangs.
Ennio has two papers on this subject. The first, published in Public Choice, is entitled Free riders: the economics and organization of outlaw motorcycle gangs and it describes the franchise-style model of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, and how that model contributed to that gang’s rise to prominence. By making the local chapters of the Hell’s Angels residual claimants, while the head chapter in Oakland is responsible for the gang’s name and reputation, the gang exploits local knowledge while also coordinating activities internationally. Continue reading Biker Gangs, Organized Crime, and Club Goods with Ennio Piano
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My guest today is Jake Meyer of California State University, Long Beach. We discuss Jake’s work on the intersection of financial crises and politics.
Jake’s work explores important questions such as the interaction between interest group politics and financial and currency crises. A country’s monetary authority needs to manage both the domestic labour market and the country’s exchange rate, but particular interest groups tend to favour one over the other very strongly. If one of these interest groups becomes disproportionately influential in national politics, they can affect monetary policy in ways that lead to crises. For instance, if a group that cares about the domestic economy and not the exchange rate takes power, they can push the monetary authority into causing an exchange rate crisis. If a group that cares exclusively about the exchange rate takes power, they can push the monetary authority to ignore the domestic economy to the point that it causes a banking crisis.
Jake’s work also looks at the way countries learn in the wake of financial crises. He looks at the change in the growth rate of credit before and after a crisis, and he finds that things like the number of veto players and the independence of the central bank impact this change.
Check out Jake’s Quora account, where he answers many questions related to economics.
Cover photo credit: https://www.lesfinances.ca/
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Today’s guest is Kyle Coates and our topic is pro wrestling and the intellectual property problems that arise from it. So prepare to be amazed as we BODY SLAM this topic, or something.
Who owns a wrestler’s name, gimmick, and persona? Kyle was inspired to do research in this area when he heard about a legal dispute between the wrestlers Jeff and Matt Hardy and the wrestling network TNA. The Hardys changed networks and wanted to continue using a gimmick they had developed while performing for TNA. Continue reading Pro Wrestling and Intellectual Property with Kyle Coates
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Today’s guest is David Friedman of Santa Clara University. Our discussion centers around his upcoming book, Legal Systems Very Different From Ours, which you can read in draft form at his website.
David became interested in this topic when he became interested in the decentralized legal system of saga-period Iceland. This interest has since expanded into a full book covering everything from Imperial Chinese Law to the customary legal system of Somaliland in northern Somalia. We discuss some of these chapters, with a focus on Somalian, Jewish, Icelandic, and 18th-century British law. We also discuss some of the major themes of the book, such as feud law and embedded or polylegal systems.
Related links:
I. M. Lewis’ book on the modern history of Somalia
The Invisible Hook by Peter Leeson (He contributed a chapter on pirate law to Legal Systems Very Different From Ours). He was also a recent guest of this show.
Scott Alexander recently reviewed this book and wrote a follow-up on specific interesting passages.
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