In this week’s star-spangled episode, the guys lead with the tragic recent passing of economist Steve Horwitz, who was an inspirationally kind economist that significantly shaped their thoughts on bleeding heart libertarianism. They then discussed what the 4th of July means to them and the critical dichotomy between countries that once committed genocide in the name of assimilation (Canada, US, etc), and those that are actively engaging in it today (China!!!!).

Lastly, they wrapped it all up with their early thoughts on Biden’s Pro-Competition Executive Order and its 72 initiatives. The devil is in the details in the areas where they are most skeptical, but overall, there is a lot that is very promising!

00:48 Rest in Peace Steve Horwitz

17:20 What is the Meaning of the 4th of July?

28:20 Genocide of past and present

45:30 Biden's Pro-Competition Executive Order

1:03:40 Cultural Recommendations (Buy an Oculus Quest 2)

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, be sure to like, review, and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected] - we promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.

Notes/Further Readings

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/what-to-the-slave-is-the-fourth-of-july/

Does advocating for child labor and anti-vax propaganda help spread liberty? In this week's little diddy, the guys touch upon Libertarian Party drama and the intellectual Civil War stewing within the larger movement.

They then discuss the high rate of inflation this past month and if it is something to be concerned about.

Further Reading:

https://reason.com/2021/06/23/inside-the-battle-over-the-soul-of-the-libertarian-party/

This week the guys were thrilled to be joined by Jericho Hill, an economist for the US government, moderator of /r/badeconomics, and a former Department of Justice statistician. They jointly discussed housing economics and all things electoral - from Republican shenanigans to Democrat-proposed voting reforms and the actual incidence of voter fraud.

Jericho also shared some of his experiences as a former professional wrestling referee, why he is not a neoliberal (but is a hardcore YIMBY), and his pride in watching subreddit users meme their way into political relevance. You can find him and his very worthwhile thoughts @Motoconomist.

00:54 How Biden “stole” the election

21:23 Housing markets - shortages and fixes

37:24 Gentrification - costs and benefits (and Detroit)

43:54 Getting back to voting - HR1 and HR4

53:34 Gerrymandering and ranked choice voting

1:01:51 Electoral shenanigans, insurrections and Cyber Ninjas

Fun Stuff

1:19:40 How is politics like wrestling?

1:28:27 /r/Badeconomics and neoliberalism

1:33:07 Todd Gurley, and Do Running Backs Matter?

1:36:33 Favorite Old Fashioned Cocktail Recipe

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, be sure to like, review, and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected] - we promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.

References

Professional Wrestling is More Real than Politics

https://ordinary-times.com/2021/05/10/professional-wrestling-is-more-real-than-politics/

In this week's 'what on earth has happened in the past month while Wyatt has been working like mad' episode, the guys discuss a global corporate minimum tax and its implications. Plus they discuss the possibility of a "natural rate" of employment recovery - when Tyler Cowen and Paul Krugman agree on something, it usually deserves attention!

Next they provide a retrospective a year removed from George Floyd in addition to what should be done with policing in the US before discussing an unexpected benefit of mass incarceration in Ohio...

Lastly, they wrap it all up with more talk of the CCP up to no good and Canada's impressive vaccine rollout.

And get well soon Christian Eriksen.

00:45 A global corporate minimum tax rate

10:28 A natural rate of employment recovery?

16:20 George Floyd - 1 year later

25:50 We need more police (and more reforms to hold them accountable)

36:30 Mass incarceration vs the benefits of incarcerating toxic parents

42:28 This week in Chinese censorship

47:31 Go Canada

Show notes/further readings:

What do recoveries from past US recessions teach us about the recovery from the pandemic recession?

https://voxeu.org/article/what-do-recoveries-past-us-recessions-teach-us-about-recovery-pandemic-recession

We aren't going to defund the police (nor should we)

https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/we-arent-going-to-defund-the-police

The Effects of Parental and Sibling Incarceration: Evidence from Ohio

https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20190415

In this week’s Sinocentric episode, the guys talk about all of the significant events happening as of late regarding the Middle Kingdom. These include why you should know the recent passing of Yuan Longping - a man who likely saved millions of lives despite having to conduct much of his critical research in secret.

Additionally, they discuss China's COVID vaccines' track record relative to Western counterparts and Chinese attempts to leverage vaccines in diplomacy. Afterward, they examine the sudden virality of the Chinese lab leak hypothesis and what merits it may have. To wrap it all up, they discuss some of China’s challenges imposed from its inevitable population crunch and how excruciatingly painful groveling from the likes of John Cena is.

Media recommendations:

Yuan Longping, Plant Scientist Who Helped Curb Famine, Dies at 90

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/asia/yuan-longping-dead.html

The Gate of Heavenly Peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gtt2JxmQtg

American Factory

https://www.netflix.com/title/81090071

One Child Nation

https://www.amazon.com/One-Child-Nation-Nanfu-Wang/dp/B08CS63MCV

Yes, yes it is.

https://nobodydismal.com/

This week the guys were thrilled to be joined by Matt Darling, a Vice President with a personal focus in economic justice @ideas42, a behavioral economics research and development lab. Together they provided an introduction to behavioral economics and had an in-depth discussion regarding welfare and cash transfers within the United States - inside and outside of the context of the pandemic.

Lastly, this round of overrated/underrated included subjects varying from the gender wage gap to the quality of Matt's trousers (not to mention his opinion of epidemiologists, especially one in particular).

1:00 A brief introduction to behavioral economics

9:45 Checks Checks Checks

37:02 An ideal unemployment system

51:26 UBI, other cash transfers, and their effects on unemployment

1:09:29 How did the pandemic change your opinion of welfare?

1:20:10 The poor as irrational, rational actors and navigating the welfare system

1:27:30 Underrated/Overrated

Matt and his valuable thoughts can be found on Twitter @besttrousers

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, be sure to like, review, and subscribe to us on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected]. We promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.

References/further reading:

ideas42’s excellent paper that Matt co-authored, Work Requirements Don’t Work: A behavioral science perspective

https://www.ideas42.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ideas42-Work-Requirements-Paper.pdf

Ioana Marinescu’s No Strings Attached: The Behavioral Effects of U.S. Unconditional Cash Transfer Programs

https://www.nber.org/papers/w24337

Banerjee et al’s: Debunking the Stereotype of the Lazy Welfare Recipient: Evidence from Cash Transfer Programs Worldwide

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/remahanna/files/151016_labor_supply_paper_draft_final.pdf

Happy Mother’s Day everyone! This week as a consequence of the holiday we had a slight change of plans from our intended programming and took the time instead to touch upon reparations. Who better to discuss it than a pair of white dudes?

30:30 NFL Draft Discussion

In addition, in honor of the NFL draft, the guys share their thoughts on Richard Thaler’s work of how, to this day, teams create inefficiencies by significantly overestimating their player evaluation abilities relative to the market and as a consequence, trading up (except for a non-QB) is almost always detrimental.

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, you can follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected]. We promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.

PS, if you listen to the podcast on Apple, we have a technical problem that is going to cause us to reset our feed only for Apple users. We apologize but you may lose your subscription!

Wrapping up our exciting trilogy of pandemic economics, the guys were thrilled to be joined by the Cato Institute's Ryan Bourne, author of the excellent book, Economics in One Virus: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning Through COVID-19. Together they touched upon a variety of the topics covered within the book - from the origins behind its name to what constitutes an economy anyway? They also discussed substantive topics not within the scope of the book, such as more than you ever thought you'd like to know about Derby County Football Club :D

Ryan and his very worthwhile thoughts can be found on Twitter @MrRBourne.

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, you can follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected]. We promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.

In our second of a trilogy of episodes focused on discussing how to economically analyze COVID policies, the guys were honored to be joined by Jeremy Horpedahl, an economics professor at the University of Central Arkansas who has built up a Twitter following for debunking some of the most egregious COVID takes.

Together they discussed the pandemic, the common shortcomings of libertarians in trying to intellectually address externalities, and yes, of course, George managed a lengthy segment on a universal basic income as well.

1:06 Pandemics and the libertarian struggle with externalities

39:00 Miscellaneous thoughts on UBI and Tax Reform

50:35 Public Choice Theory - Bootleggers and Baptists

58:15 Distancing from libertarian as a label

66:06 Back to discussing the pandemic and the Value of a Statistical Life

Jeremy and his very worthwhile thoughts can be found on Twitter @jmhorp.

And as always, if you enjoyed this conversation and would like to hear others like it, you can follow us on Twitter at @NobodyDismal or email us at [email protected]. We promise to always respond, whether on-air or off.