The Curious Task

Bryan Caplan — What's a University Degree Worth?

Alex Aragona speaks with Bryan Caplan about the value of a formal education, and compares the alleged benefits against the reality.

References from Episode 61 with Bryan Caplan

• You can purchase Bryan Caplan’s New York Times best-seller, The Myth of the Rational Voter from Amazon Canada at this link. His other publications include Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids (book), The Case Against Education (the book upon which this episode was based), and Open Borders (graphic novel). 
• This is an outline of Bryan’s upcoming work on Poverty: Who to Blame.
• You can refer to a breakdown of Bryan’s study of the Economic Models of Education, where he operationalizes his definition of “human capital purism” here.
• Bryan builds off of Michael Spence’s work on signaling. One of Michael’s publications, Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets, can be accessed with an active JSTOR account.
• Bryan briefly uses the term Catch-22 that was coined by Joseph Heller’s novel of the same name, which can be purchased through Amazon Canada.
• There is a reference to the Indian caste system when Bryan was comparing the inclinations of degree-bearers to marry those who have a degree at a similar level. A thorough study of the sociopolitics of identity and status under the Indian caste system may be read here. 
• While discussing how to discipline thinking about the intelligent life in the universe, Bryan references the Drake Equation whose analysis by Leonor Sierra (University of Rochester) can be reviewed on NASA’s website.
• The Corporate Finance Institute published a rundown on the meaning of “austerity,” which can be read here.
• You can watch The Pianist, which Bryan references while forecasting relevancies in employer consideration, on Amazon Prime.

Eric Schliesser — What Is Neoliberalism?

Alex Aragona speaks with Eric Schliesser as he explores the history of the term "neoliberalism," its eventual evolution, and what neoliberalism means today.

References from episode 60 with Eric Schliesser

• Here is a list of Eric Schliesser’s publications.
• Dr. Karen Horn and Dr. Stefan Kolev’s joint work, entitled Economic Thinking, has a German version available for purchase on Amazon Canada at this link.
• Walter Lippmann’s book, The Good Society, which went on to become an international hit as for “its insight of neoliberalism as the intellectual status quo in the 19th century” can be purchased on Amazon Canada at this link.
• Marxist Scholar David Harvey’s book, A Brief History of Neoliberalism, where he equated neoliberalism “to everything he hated about capitalism” is available on Amazon Canada at this link.
• Mishel Foucault’s lecture series where he traced the history of neoliberalism from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries was published as The Birth of Biopolitics, which can be purchased on Amazon Canada at this link.
• Mark Buchanan’s article Wealth Happens analyzes the the “butchers and bakers” quote that was mentioned in passing by Alex Aragona at this online publishing from The Harvard Business Review.
• Milton Friedman’s article, Laws That Do Harm, is available for viewing at the Center of the American Experiment’s blog, which features the quote to “judge public policies by their results, not their intentions.”
• According to Eric Schliesser, the harm principle is a core liberal value and can be extended to markets. You can read about the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s lesson on John Stuart Mill’s version of the harm principle (Chapter 3.6) here.
• You can read Milton Friedman’s The Basic Principles of Liberalism here.
• You can watch Milton Friedman speak about the enemies of markets on the American Enterprise Institute’s website at this link.
• The Elgar Companian to the Chicago School of Economics can be purchased directly from the publishers here.
• Alex Aragona quotes this blogpost, How ‘Neoliberalism’ came to refer to Everything I reject from Digressions&Impressions.

Lynne Kiesling — Can Markets Restructure Energy?

Alex Aragona speaks with Lynne Kiesling as she explores the current structure of energy systems and delivery, and how they can be restructured in more market-oriented ways.

References from Episode 59 with Lynne Kiesling

• You can buy Lynne Kiesling’s book, Deregulation, Innovation and Market Liberalization: Electricity Regulation in a Continually Evolving Environment, on Amazon Canada at this link.
• You can read more about Ben Franklin’s famous Kite-in-a-Thunderstorm Experiment that was briefly mentioned by Lynne here.
• Paul M. Sweezy’s analysis of Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation may be accessed through an active account with the JSTOR database.
• Adam Smith’s law of mutually-beneficial commerce and exchange was introduced in his book, The Wealth of Nations, whose Second Part has been summarized in a module by the Cato Institute here. An in-depth explanation of Adam Smith’s benefits of free trade and commercial society may be read here.
• You can read Israel M. Kirzner’s article on Hayek and the Meaning of Subjectivism here.

Matt Ridley — How Does Innovation Flourish?

Alex Aragona speaks with Matt Ridley as he explores the nature of innovation and the conditions that enable it to flourish.

References

1. Mind & Matter Column, Wall Street Journal

Link: https://www.wsj.com/news/types/mind-matter 

2. “How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom by Matt Ridley

Link: https://www.amazon.ca/How-Innovation-Works-Flourishes-Freedom/dp/0062916599 

3. “Northumberlandia” by The Gardens Trust 

Link: https://thegardenstrust.blog/2015/08/15/northumberlandia/ 

4. “Thomas Newcomen” by Britannica

Link: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Newcomen 

5. “George Stephenson” by Britannica

Link: https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Stephenson 

6. “The Wright Brothers” by the National Air and Space Museum

Link: https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/wright-brothers 

7. “How Mary Wortley Montagu’s bold experiment led to smallpox vaccine - 75 years before Jenner” by The Guardian

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/mar/28/how-mary-wortley-montagus-bold-experiment-led-to-smallpox-vaccine-75-years-before-jenner 

8. “Charles Hard Townes” by Britannica

Link: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Hard-Townes 

9. “Steve Jobs and Bill Gates Historic Interview” 

Link: https://www.everythingsupplychain.com/steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-historic-interview-15-minutes-750k-views/#:~:text=Steve%20Jobs%20and%20Bill%20Gates%20appeared%20together%20for%20a%20rare,Walt%20Mossberg%20and%20Kara%20Swisher. 

10. “Samuel F.B. Morse” by Britannica

Link: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-F-B-Morse

Terry Anderson — How Can We Unlock The Wealth of Indigenous Nations?

Alex Aragona speaks with Terry Anderson as he explores the external forces that have restrained the wealth and well-being of Indigenous peoples in the West, and how that wealth can be unlocked. 

References

1. “Free Market Environmentalism for the Next Generation” by Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal

Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Market-Environmentalism-Generation-Anderson-Paperback/dp/B010CKSG1M 

2. “Unlocking the Wealth of Indian Nations” by Terry Anderson

Link: https://www.amazon.ca/Unlocking-Wealth-Indian-Nations-Anderson/dp/1498525679 

3. Indigenous Econ Organization Website

Link: https://indigenousecon.org/about 

4. “American-Indian Wars” by History.com

Link: https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/american-indian-wars 

5. “Civil War” by the National Museum of the American Indian

Link: https://americanindian.si.edu/static/why-we-serve/topics/civil-war/#:~:text=The%20war%20exacted%20a%20terrible,less%20secure%20after%20the%20war. 

6. “The Cherokee Nation Cases” by the Supreme Court Historical Society

Link: https://civics.supremecourthistory.org/article/the-cherokee-nation-cases/ 

7. “Potlatch Ban” by Living Tradition

Link: https://umistapotlatch.ca/potlatch_interdire-potlatch_ban-eng.php#:~:text=In%20the%20late%201800s%2C%20the,became%20law%20January%201%2C%201885

8. “Northern Cheyenne Tribe: Traditional Law and Constitutional Reform” by Sheldon Spotted Elk

Link: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=tlj 

9. “Our Story: A History of Resilience and Perseverance” by Coushatta.org

Link: https://www.coushatta.org/our-story/