Bryan Caplan's Blog, page 14

Anti-Communism and Anti-Racism: A Final Word

My anonymous UT friend offers this reply to my reply to his reply to my Anti-Communism and Anti-Racism piece.  I’ll give him the last word.  This time, I’m in blockquotes, and he’s not.

There are two plausible positions here.

(1) The historic loyalty oaths were strict and would have greatly improved the free exchange of ideas in U.S. universities in the long-run.

(2) The historic loyalty oaths were mild and would not have greatly improved the free exchange of ideas in U.S. universities in the l...

Assessing My COVID Expectations

Relative to your expectations, how well did government respond to COVID?  How about regular people?  How about business?

Before you answer you have to ponder your general expectations for government, regular people, and business.   In my case, I expect absolute performance to be awful for government, mediocre for regular people, and excellent for business.  Since I expect government to do poorly, government can (and occasionally does) exceed my expectations by attaining mediocrity.

Feel free to ...

A Conversation on Freedom, Populism, and Big Tech

Last month Edmund Santurri of St. Olaf College’s Institute for Freedom and Community interviewed me on “Freedom, Populism, and Big Tech.”  The format was highly unconventional, and I liked it.  There was no lecture.  Instead, Santurri and St. Olaf students asked me a bunch of questions about a bunch of blog posts, especially this one.  Santurri kicked off the conversation by asking me a few broad questions.  Then he aired pre-recorded video questions from students, and relayed questions people s...

COVID Prevention and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Douglas Allen of Simon Fraser University has a working paper that builds on “Life-Years Lost: The Quantity and the Quality,” one of my blog posts from last year.  Most of his paper critiques other researchers’ cost-benefit analyses of COVID policy, but Allen spends a whole section applying my method to Canada:

As of March 2021 the pandemic has lasted one year, which means that the average Canadian has lost two months of normal life. The population of Canada is about 37.7 million people, which me...

A Few Huemerian Highlights

In case you haven’t heard, my very favorite philosopher has just released a new introductory philosophy textbook, entitled Knowledge, Reality, and Value. Yes, Mike Huemer has entered the textbook market.  And since he’s publishing via Amazon, the price is a rock-bottom $14.99.

I’ll discuss KRV in detail once I finish it.  For now, I share a few highlights.

Huemer on the psychological foundations of rational irrationality:

When we are being biased (non-objective), we usually do not notice that...

Anti-Communism and Anti-Racism: A Reply

There’s less disagreement than meets the eye between myself and my anonymous friend at the University of Texas.  He’s in blockquotes, I’m not.  Point-by-point:

I respectfully disagree with Bryan’s recent post on anti-Communism and “anti-racism.”  I believe he falls into a classic false equivalence trap; just because two things sound similar does not make them fundamentally similar…

Similarly, neither the problem being addressed not the proposed solutions discussed by Bryan have anything more th...

Anti-Communism and Anti-Racism Reconsidered

My anonymous friend at the University of Texas has issues with yesterday’s post.  Here’s his critique.  Enjoy!

I respectfully disagree with Bryan’s recent post on anti-Communism and “anti-racism.”  I believe he falls into a classic false equivalence trap; just because two things sound similar does not make them fundamentally similar.  For example, slicing someone’s stomach open with a rusty knife to try to cure a cold is unquestionably a bad idea.  Surgery in a sterile hospital to remove stomac...

Anti-Communism and Anti-Racism

I hate Communism.  I consider Communists to be the moral approximates of Nazis.  I might talk to a youthful Communist, but after the excuse of youth passes, I deem Communists beyond redemption.

Even so, if George Mason University adopted an official Anti-Communist policy, I would oppose it.

Why?  All of the following reasons.

1. George Mason University is part of the government, and as such ought to scrupulously respect freedom of speech, thought, and association.  And in practice, an official A...

Thoughts on My Simplistic Theory of Left and Right

I have a Simplistic Theory of Left and Right.  A reader sent me their thoughts on the theory.  Reprinted anonymously with their permission.

I’ve been thinking about your conception of the Right and Left in American Politics and thought I would run a thought by you.

You say:

1. Leftists are anti-market.  On an emotional level, they’re critical of market outcomes.  No matter how good market outcomes are, they can’t bear to say, “Markets have done a great job, who could ask for more?”

2. Rightists...

Dual Anthems

Ayn Rand‘s Anthem only takes about an hour to read.  So while it’s her weakest novel, the literary value per minute of reading is high.  And it definitely belongs on any list of classic dystopian fiction.  Only recently, though, did I discover that there are two graphic novel adaptations.

1. The 2011 adaptation by Charles Santino and Joe Staton.

This version heavily edits the text, and has exactly three panels per page.  The illustrations are basically just black-and-white sketches; skillful, b...