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Oct 26, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Alice Temnick |Adam Smith
The universe, points out economist Noah Smith, is always trying to kill us, whether through asteroids hurtling through space or our every-few-hours hunger pains. Why, then, should we expect anything but a gravitational pull toward poverty? In this episode, Russ Roberts and Noah Smith reflect on films and TV shows that depict the “good old days-” nostalgia for the particular era of the 1950’s.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Alice Temnick
Russ Roberts and Noah Smith reflect on films and TV shows that depict the “good old days” nostalgia for the particular era of the 1950’s. They also end with an exchange about various survival shows including a Canadian show that was canceled as survival in late 1800’s farming life conditions was simply too challenging for the contestants. Why do people tend to idealize certain historical periods, and how does this affect current views on progress, technology, and economics?
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Aug 30, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Scott Sumner |David Henderson |Alice Temnick
In a recent Bloomberg column, Tyler Cowen discussed the difficulties involved in paring back regulation:
The basic paradox is this: Government regulations are embedded in a large, unwieldy and complex set of institutions. Dismantling it, or paring it back significantly, would require a lot of state capacity — that is, state competence. Yet deregulators are suspicious of greater state capacity, as it carries the potential for more state regulatory action.
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Aug 29, 2024 | 
econlib.org | David Henderson |Alice Temnick |Pierre Lemieux
I’m reading J. Doyne Farmer’s recent book, Making Sense of Chaos, for a discussion I’ll be involved in next week. On page 53, Farmer makes a good point, writing:Though we often refer to pieces of the production network as supply chains, this is a bad metaphor: The production network is full of branches and is more like a tangled web than a chain. (italics in original)It’s nice to see someone who’s not even an economist making that economic point.
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Aug 29, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Alice Temnick |Pierre Lemieux |Kevin Corcoran
[Editor’s note: In her previous post, Temnick talked about how she teaches her students about human capital.]Economics teachers never fail to miss introducing their students to the Factors of Production. Land, labor, and capital all have their day. But too often, one of the most critical factors is left out- entrepreneurship. How do I teach it? I begin by asking for volunteers to attempt to spell out-loud, without looking at a reference, the word, entrepreneurship.
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Aug 15, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Art Carden |Scott Sumner |Alice Temnick
Earlier this year, our dog spent a few weeks in a lot of pain and on a lot of painkillers because a car hit her and broke her pelvis (she’s fine and has gotten back to dragging me all over our local park every day). Taking care of her made me wish going to the doctor or dentist was much more like going to the vet in one very important way: health insurance isn’t involved, so we’re pretty clear about our options and, importantly, how much those options will cost.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Scott Sumner |Alice Temnick |Kevin Corcoran
What is the relationship between immigration and the business cycle? Before answering that question, let’s look at some evidence from Statista:
[The chart shows apprehensions and expulsions, but the data is widely believed to be highly correlated with successful undocumented migration.]
There seems to be a modestly pro-cyclical pattern to the data on undocumented migration. Apprehensions rose throughout the 1990s, peaking in 2000.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Alice Temnick |Kevin Corcoran |Scott Sumner
How do I get students to think about the topic of human capital? I ask them, what is the single most valuable resource in the world? Oil, water, air? “People” is usually a tentative answer, indicating uncertainty about the meaning of a resource. Once it is established that a resource is anything that produces goods and services, people, or human capital is reasonably understood. I ask for examples. This is always interesting.
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Aug 7, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Alice Temnick
Was it divine intervention or simply the fact of being right that makes the infamous “Letter from Birmingham Jail” timeless, profound and even life-changing for some readers? If you haven’t met Dwayne Betts in an earlier EconTalk episode, get ready for Russ Roberts’s phenomenal friend and guest. Betts is so present in the moment and affected by the beauty, truth, and humility of the great Martin Luther King that his voice sometimes cracks answering Roberts’s questions.
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Jan 3, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Alice Temnick
When you think of the future, how far out does your imagination take you? Next year, a century, a half million years? In this episode, Will MacAskill presents “longtermism” to us, suggesting that we have a moral responsibility to the people who will live after us, as their numbers will be substantially greater than those who live now or who lived before us. Host Russ Roberts asks provocative questions that will undoubtedly leave you wondering…What do we owe the future?
