The Week in Policymaker Ignorance

Scott discusses the role that policymaker ignorance played in the French decision to try to re-conquer their former colony in Indochina following WWII, the American decision to support the French, and the calamitous Battle of Điện Biên Phủ that ended the First Indochina War.

Scott considers the role that policymaker ignorance played in the failure to contain the Los Angeles fires and the legitimacy of the "climate change" excuse for said failure.

Scott considers the 2024 American Presidential Election, the candidates, and their campaign promises through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses the relationship between the widespread obsession with maximizing consensus, increasing calls for censorship in Western societies, and the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses various methods of promoting popular sovereignty in contexts where policymakers are too ignorant to realize goals associated with voters' preferences.

Scott discusses the problems that policymaker ignorance raises for democratic government.

Scott discusses the Democrats' price control policy and the Republicans' proposed industrial policy through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott returns to address a few issues discussed on previous episodes.

Scott discusses a classic work of academic political science, James C. Scott's Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Scott returns after some time away to discuss policymaker ignorance and university administrators, and to offer some updates about a number of stories discussed on previous episodes.