Episodes
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Ep. 208: Clara Piano - Does Greater Economic Freedom Lead To More Babies?
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Matt speaks with Clara Piano about the relationship between economic freedom, fertility, and the roles that modernization and increasing well-being for women have on the number of babies that are born in countries around the world.
Episode Notes:
"The Fertility Gap and Economic Freedom" by Clara Piano & Lyman Stone https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4564080
"The Fertility Benefits of Economic Freedom" by Clara E. Piano https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-fertility-benefits-of-economic-freedom
"The Best Policy for Supporting Families Is “Do No Harm”" by Clara E. Piano https://www.aier.org/article/the-best-policy-for-supporting-families-is-do-no-harm/
Some history on "The Population Bomb" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Ep. 207: Sarah Skwire - Why Should Liberals Read Shakespeare?
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Sabine speaks with Sarah Skwire about the fascinating world of Shakespeare and why there are so many lessons we can learn from a pre-enlightenment playwright about markets, politics, and the human condition.
Episode Notes:
- Mike Huemer's Post on Shakespeare: https://fakenous.substack.com/p/why-i-hate-shakespeare
- "The Comedy of The Errors" https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-comedy-of-errors/read/#:~:text=Synopsis%3A,named%20Dromio%2C%20as%20their%20servants.
- Sarah on Shakespeare and Immigration: https://fee.org/articles/even-shakespeare-knew-that-kicking-out-immigrants-harms-us-all/
- Adam Smith on Human Sympathy: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/documents/smith-on-sympathy-lauren-hall-12-1
- Summary of Shakespeare's "Sir Thomas More": https://nosweatshakespeare.com/sir-thomas-more-play/
- Adam Smith's misrecollection of Othello https://www.adamsmithworks.org/speakings/skwire-smith-shakespeare-slips-end-of-othello
- Intro to "Measure for Measure": https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/measure-for-measure/
- Commentary on the Political Theology of First Samuel: https://www.theologyofwork.org/old-testament/samuel-kings-chronicles-and-work/from-tribal-confederation-to-monarchy-1-samuel/
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Ep. 206: David Friedman - What Is Anarcho-Capitalism?
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Wednesday Nov 29, 2023
Alex speaks with David Friedman about defenses, definitions and critiques of Anarcho-Capitalism in David's work and in others'.
Episode Notes:
- Summary of David's book "The Machinery of Freedom" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machinery_of_Freedom
- Some of Ayn Rand's views on Libertarianism and Anarcho-Capitalism: http://aynrandlexicon.com/ayn-rand-ideas/ayn-rand-q-on-a-on-libertarianism.html
- Some of David's comments on his Father's views of his work can be found here: https://www.econlib.org/archives/2011/07/david_friedmans_1.html
- The Stanford Encyclopedia's entry on Anarchism https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/#:~:text=Libertarianism%20and%20anarcho%2Dcapitalism%20also,the%20idea%20of%20social%20development.
- "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" - Robert A. Heinlein https://a.co/d/4gmWZrP
- "The Private Enforcement of Law" - Landes and Posner https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=259376
- "Law Enforcement, Malfeasance, and Compensation of Enforcers" - Gary S. Becker and George J. Stigler https://laws21.classes.ryansafner.com/readings/Becker-Stigler-1974.pdf
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Ep. 205: Iain Murray - What Has Happened to Conservatism?
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Wednesday Nov 22, 2023
Matt speaks with Iain Murray about the estrangement of conservative liberalism from identitarian forms of conservative nationalism and the intriguing alliances that may arise in the future between freedom-loving libertarians and some unlikely allies.
Episode Notes:
Iain's book "The Socialist Temptation" https://a.co/d/5AUQHQp
One of Iain's articles on the subject https://cei.org/blog/european-populism-is-nationalist-conservatism/
"Do Libertarians Have a Political Home Anymore?" by Iain Murray https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-35-number-1-2/do-libertarians-have-political-home-anymore
Summary of Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
Ezra Klein's comment on "Everything Bagel Liberalism" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/opinion/democrats-liberalism.html
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Ep. 204: Brad Lips - Is The Liberty Movement In Trouble?
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Wednesday Nov 15, 2023
Sabine speaks with Atlas Network's Brad Lips about what's in store for the liberty movement all over the world.
Episode Notes:
- The Atlas Network https://www.atlasnetwork.org/who-we-are
- Brad's book "Liberalism and the Free Society in 2021" https://a.co/d/0Bcor8q
- The Free Market Foundation https://freemarketfoundation.com/
- Article summarizing Margaret Thatcher's relationship with Anthony Fisher https://philanthropydaily.com/margaret-thatcher-and-antony-fisher-free-markets-and-philanthropy/
- Watler Williams on South Africa https://www.annistonstar.com/the_st_clair_times/stclair_opinion/walter-williams-ridding-south-africa-of-apartheid-and-what-replaces-it-column/article_da26121e-ad32-11e8-ba86-7783725cd2d4.html
- Centre for Civil Society in India https://ccs.in/
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Ep. 203: Mark Mercer - What’s Wrong With Universities?
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Wednesday Nov 08, 2023
Matt speaks with Mark Mercer about academic freedom, the changing mission of universities themselves, and what role faculty, administrators, and students should play in shaping the future of the institution.
References:
- Mark’s Interview in C2C Journal: https://c2cjournal.ca/2023/05/confronting-the-post-academic-university-in-conversation-with-mark-mercer/
- Peter March at St. Mary’s: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/students-protest-prof-who-posted-cartoons-1.623017
- Kathleen Lowrey at University of Alberta: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/u-of-a-professor-says-she-was-dismissed-over-views-that-biological-sex-trumps-transgender-identity-for-policy-decisions
- Tomáš Hudlický at Brock University: https://niagaraindependent.ca/remembering-professor-tomas-hudlicky-and-how-poorly-brock-university-treated-him/
- The Chicago Principles: https://provost.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/documents/reports/FOECommitteeReport.pdf
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Ep. 202: Cory Massimino - How Do We Abolish Prisons?
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Alex speaks with Cory Massimino about the concept of prison abolition and how this position corresponds with natural rights theory and recent movements demanding the end of prisons as we know them.
Read some of Cory’s published and unpublished pieces on prison abolition here: thttp://corymassimino.com/tag/prison-abolition/
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Ep. 201: Seth Kaplan - Why Are Neighbourhoods Important?
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Matt speaks with Seth Kaplan about his book Fragile Neighborhoods, and why a decision as simple as where we choose to live can often make the difference between lives of prosperity and lives of uncertainty and strife.
Seth's book can be ordered here:
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Noah Schwartz - Does Canada Have A Gun Problem?
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
In March of 2023, Alex speaks with Noah Schwartz about gun control in Canada and how recent attempts to review firearms policy have failed to address root issues and the causes of violence and crime.
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Monica Guzman - How Can Curiosity Fix Polarization?
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
In April of 2023, Alex speaks with Monica Guzman about the need for curiosity as a remedy for the increasing polarization in American discourse and her recent book on the subject "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times"
Monica's book:
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Kevin Vallier - Must Politics Be War?
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
In this conversation from January 2020, Alex Aragona speaks with Kevin Vallier about conflicts in politics and how ideology aggravates them, and whether liberal institutions can help us trust each other more.
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Jayme Lemke - Who Was Elinor Ostrom?
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Alex speaks with Jayme Lemke about the life, work, and legacy of American Nobel Prize-winning political economist Elinor Ostrom.
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Ep. 200: Alex Aragona - 200th Episode Celebration
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Sabine interviews our regular host Alex Aragona as they discuss the first 200 episodes of the Curious Task.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Ep. 199: Nathan Goodman - What Does Immigration Have To Do With Climate Change
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Alex speaks with Nathan Goodman about the implications of Climate Change for immigration policy and how coercion and polycentricity factor into that conversation.
References:
- Adapting to Climate Change through Migration: Justus Enninga and Nathan Goodman https://www.thecgo.org/research/adapting-to-climate-change-through-migration/
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary for Policy Makers https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/summary-for-policymakers/#:~:text=Climate%20change%2C%20through%20hazards%2C%20exposure,adapt%20and%20mitigate%20within%20limits
- Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems: Elinor Ostrom https://www.jstor.org/stable/27871226
- The case for open immigration Chandran Kukathas https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/237298126.pdf
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Special Episode 17: Paige MacPherson - What Does School Choice Look Like?
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
In August of 2022, Alex spoke with Paige MacPherson about school choice - and the lack thereof - in each of Canada's provinces.
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Special Episode 16: Peter Jaworski - What Is Libertarianism?
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Wednesday Aug 30, 2023
Alex Aragona speaks with Peter Jaworski as he explores his definition of libertarianism, and how different kinds of morality can lead to certain conclusions about libertarian institutions.
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Ep. 198: Tony Gill - Why Do We Tip?
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Wednesday Aug 23, 2023
Alex speaks with Tony Gill about the curious practice of tipping and why despite all our groaning, it may just be a habit worth defending.
Further Reading (some more of Tony Gill's writings on the subject):
https://www.polisci.washington.edu/news/2019/03/18/tony-gill-tipping
http://journal.apee.org/index.php/2018_Journal_of_Private_Enterprise_Vol_33_No_1_Spring_parte6
https://www.aier.org/article/in-defense-of-tipping-part-ii-price-discrimination/
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Ep. 197: Kevin Vallier - What Are The New Religious Threats To Liberalism?
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Wednesday Aug 16, 2023
Alex speaks with Kevin Vallier about his new book "All The Kingdoms Of The World", in which he takes a global view of anti-liberal integralist strands in political thought and warns of the consequences of following them toward a rejection of liberal freedom and democracy.
Episode Notes:
- The conversation focuses primarily on Kevin’s book:
- Introduction to Catholic Political Integralism:
- Introduction to islamic political anti-liberalism
- “The Confucian Tradition and Politics” Youngmin Kim, Ha-Kyoung Lee and Seongun Park https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.991
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Ep. 196: Stefanie Haeffele - Can We Live Better Together?
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Wednesday Aug 09, 2023
Alex speaks with Stefanie Haeffele about her recent book Living Better Together, which explores the work of Elinor Ostrom and Viviana Zelizer.
Episode Notes:
"Living Better Together" by Stefanie Haeffele and Virgil Henry Storr:
Viviana Zelizer's homepage at Princeton:
https://sociology.princeton.edu/people/viviana-zelizer
Elinor Ostrom's bio and short autobiography on the Nobel website:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2009/ostrom/facts/
Nonneutrality of Money in a Social Perspective by Julia Włodarczyk
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274184545_Nonneutrality_of_Money_in_a_Social_Perspective
Zelizer's "Circuits of Commerce"
https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520241367.003.0009
Ostrom's "Governing The Commons"
Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy by
Viviana A. Zelizer
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691139364/economic-lives
"Testing Circuits of Commerce in the Distant Past: Archaeological Understandings of Social Relationships and Economic Lives"
by: Crystal A. Dozier
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Ep. 195: Scott Scheall - How Are Carl and Karl Menger Important For Liberalism?
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Alex speaks with Scott Scheall about Carl and Karl Menger and their influence on the history of economics, liberal theory, and - yes - mathematics.
Further Reading:
"Karl Menger as Son of Carl Menger" - Scott Scheall & Reinhard Schumacher
https://philarchive.org/rec/SCHKMA-4
Econlib Biography of elder Menger:
https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Menger.html
- Dimensiontheorie, 1928
- "On Intuitionism", 1930, Blatter der deutschen Pilosophy
- Kurventheorie, 1932
- "The New Logic", 1933, in Krise und Neuaufbau in den Exackten Wissenschaften
- Moral Wille und Weltgestaltung, 1934.
- "The Role of Uncertainty in Economics", 1934, ZfN
- "Remarks on the Law of Diminishing Returns: A study in meta-economics", 1936, ZfN
- "The Logic of Laws of Return: A study in meta-economics", 1954, in Morgenstern, editor, Economic Activity Analysis.
- "Austrian Marginalism and Mathematical Economics", 1973, in Hicks and Weber, editors, Carl Menger and the Austrian School of Economics
- Morality, decision, and social organization : toward a logic of ethics, 1974.
- Selected Papers in Logic and Foundations, Didactics, Economics, 1979.
- Reminiscences of the Vienna Circle and the Mathematical Colloquium, 1994. (ed. L. Golland, B. McGuinness and A. Sklar) [prev]
- "On the direction of ideas and the principal tendencies of the Vienna Mathematical Colloqium", 1998, in E. Dierker & K. Sigismund, editors, Karl Menger Ergebnisse eines Mathematischen Kolloquiums