Ideas Having Sex

Maarten Prak shows how capitalism developed from the bottom up.

Today’s Book: Pioneers of Capitalism: The Netherlands 1000–1800, by Maarten Prak & Jan Luiten van Zanden

David Beito exposes the many civil liberties abuses of FDR.

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Today’s book: The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance by David Beito

Sean Mirski reviews the causes and consequences of early US foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere.

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Today’s book: We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus by Sean Mirski

David Schmidtz discusses the inseparability of successful communities and successful lives.

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Today’s Book: Living Together: Inventing Moral Science

David’s university page & author page

Discussed and recommended: The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle; The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith; A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume; Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View by Immanuel Kant; Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society by James Otteson;

Rachel Ferguson and Marcus Witcher explain how black Americans have been held down by the state and lifted up by the market.

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Today’s book: Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America

Rachel Ferguson: Twitter, website,

Marcus Witcher: Twitter

Discussed and Recommended

The Poverty of Slavery: How Unfree Labor Pollutes the Economy

Financial Exclusion: How Competition Can Fix a Broken System

The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America's Poor

Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American economy 1865-1914

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America

The Black Boom

Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

Michael Huemer talks about puzzles and insights in the study of knowledge.

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Today’s book: Understanding Knowledge

Discussed and recommended: Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, and The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Mike’s blog, author page, and website

James Otteson argues against wealth redistribution.

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Today’s book: Should Wealth Be Redistributed? A Debate

James’s website, Twitter, author page, university page.

Recommended and discussed: From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 by David Beito; Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America by Rachel Ferguson & Marcus Witcher; The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato; & The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century by Walter Scheidel

Deirdre McCloskey explains how freedom and bourgeoise dignity enriched the world.

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The Bourgeoise Era Trilogy

Vol. 1 - The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce

Vol. 2 - Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World

Vol. 3 - Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World

Shorter summary volume: Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, by Deirdre McCloskey & Art Carden

Discussed and Recommended: Four Essays on Liberty by Isaiah Berlin; The Conservative Sensibility by George Will; Kathleen Stock & Deirdre McCloskey Debate Issues of Sex, Gender, & Identity

Professor McCloskey’s email, website, Twitter, & author page

Bryan Caplan discusses political irrationality, partisan loyalty, and more.

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Today’s book: Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political Irrationality

Bryan’s recommendations: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction & Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? both by Philip Tetlock

Bryan’s Twitter, Author Page, Substack, and personal website.

Peter Boghossian talks about wokeness, scholarly corruption, and how to have impossible conversations.

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Find Peter on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, and his website.

The Reformers, Part 1: Explores the Sokal Squared Hoax, aka the Grievance Studies Affair

How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide, by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay

The Gift of Violence: Practical Knowledge for Surviving and Thriving in a Dangerous World, by Matt Thornton

Woman expresses fear of backlash for agreeing with Billboard Chris