The Greg Clark Symposium
Earlier I wrote “Greg Clark may well be the most important social scientist of the 21st century.” Thus, the symposium in Econ Journal Watch on Clark’s new but perhaps not forthcoming book is very...
View ArticleMy excellent Conversation with Luis Garicano
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is part of the episode summary: Tyler and Luis start their conversation with Spain — housing, NIMBYism, and the productivity crisis; Spanish literature...
View ArticleThe Tragedy of Nikole Hannah-Jones
Nikole Hannah-Jones famously sent her child to a predominantly black/lower-income public school in New York City. Now her child says she shouldn’t have been used as political fodder. The essay makes...
View ArticleWhy Papua New Guinea is so interesting
And this leads to the most interesting part of this story: how the highlanders were so isolated for so long. I want to acknowledge that the highlanders were not completely, hermetically sealed off from...
View ArticleMy excellent Conversation with Annie Lowrey
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is the episode summary: Annie Lowrey’s new book, The Time Tax, argues that the most regressive levy in American life is the hours each of us must spend...
View ArticleWhen discussing AI policy, start with China
Whatever your ideas for regulating AI, I say start with China. Do not put China as an afterthought at the end of your proposal, mentioned in a vague wish that something good ought to happen and that...
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The Prediction Archive
The Prediction Archive is a public database of tens of thousands of world predictions. Using AI it tracks predictions over many decades and marks to market. I was surprised to discover that I am...
View ArticleMy very interesting Conversation with Jared Diamond
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is part of the episode summary: So which leaders do make a difference? Tyler and Jared debate that question, including conditions what a religious...
View ArticleIs Lichtenstein an actual monarchy?
It seems so: Internal documents reviewed by the FT show that three days earlier, behind the walls of Vaduz Castle, Europe’s wealthiest ruling dynasty had quietly approved an overhaul that strengthens...
View ArticleWho values democracy?
This paper examines the conventional view that redistribution is central to the democratization process using data from stock markets. Consistent with this view, democratizations have a large, negative...
View Article*Visions from San Francisco Bay*
European and American capitalism were different. The violence of human clashes in America took place on the surface, in the open. The violence in Europe became formalized, coalesced with class...
View ArticlePolling results on capitalism and socialism
The results suggest that the public is feeling down about capitalism but is still wary of full-blown socialism. And many are deciding whether a few socialist candidates might help shake up the system....
View ArticleWhat should I ask Yiyang Zhuge (诸葛一杨), also known as Zhong Shu (仲树)?
Yes I will be doing a Conversation with her. She is best known to Western audiences for her interview with Christopher Nolan, but she has numerous other achievements: Yiyang Zhuge is a political...
View ArticleTowards a New House of Lords
In Britain, the House of Lords was traditionally dominated by hereditary peers–a right bequeathed by the monarch, sometimes in ancient times, to sit in the House of Lords that was transmitted...
View ArticleI DJ for Rick Rubin about music and patriotism
MUSIC EPISODE: “You think you understand patriotism, you have your hands around it–it’s the simple thing, but it turns out it’s not. And maybe, music and the history of music shows us all that better...
View ArticleDemocracy and Caeserism
In my 2015 post discussing Joseph Heath’s excellent book Enlightenment 2.0, I had this to say: One of the reasons that I oppose the extension of democratic politics into every aspect of modern life is...
View ArticleThat was then, this is now
I very much like the new Michael Khodarkovsky book The Steppe and its Empires: The Russian Empire & its Eurasian Counterparts. Excerpt: Russia presented the most remarkable contrast to both...
View ArticleMy very interesting Conversation with Daron Acemoglu
Here is the audio, video, and transcript. Here is the episode summary: Daron Acemoglu returns for his second appearance with a new book, What Happened to Liberal Democracy?, which Tyler reads as an...
View ArticleWhat makes people happy?
Measuring politically sensitive attitudes in authoritarian settings is difficult because expressions of political support may reflect repression and social pressure as much as genuine belief. We...
View ArticleWho enters Congress?
We trace the family origins of Members of Congress (MC) born between 1830 and 1950, linking each MC, their parents, and their brothers to the complete-count censuses. Future MCs have always been...
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