Bryan Caplan's Blog, page 50

“Socialism”: The Provocative Equivocation

The socialists are back, but is it a big deal?  It’s tempting to say that it’s purely rhetorical.  Modern socialists don’t want to emulate the Soviet Union.  To them, socialism just means “Sweden,” right?  Even if their admiration for Sweden is unjustified, we’ve long known that the Western world contains millions of people who want their countries to be like Sweden.  Why should we care if Sweden-fans rebrand themselves as “socialists”?

My instinctive objection is that even using the term “so...

Letter from an “Anti-School Teacher”

I recently received this email from a self-styled “anti-school teacher.”  Reprinted unchanged with permission of the author, Samuel Mosley.

Dear Professor Caplan,

My name is Samuel Mosley. I studied economics at Beloit College, my advisor was a former graduate student of yours, Laura Grube.

I recently read The Case Against Education and it explained so much of what I see. Like many new graduates who do not know exactly what they want to do but want to do something that helps people, I became...

My Classes in Madrid

This summer, I’m teaching two classes for Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Madrid.  Namely:

1. A Short Course in Labor Economics, June 10-June 4, Mon-Thurs, 4:30-6 PM.

2. Face-to-Face, June 10, 17, 24, and July 1.  One week on each of my four books!

I’ll also be speaking at Tedx in Madrid on June 26.

If you show up, please say hi!

The post My Classes in Madrid appeared first on Econlib.

Rejoinder to Moller on Immigration

Moller’s response on immigration also leaves me unmoved.  Point-by-point reply, with Moller in blockquotes.

I agree with Caplan that we should have high levels of immigration for both moral and self-interested reasons, and that a great deal of resistance to this traces back to confused zero-sum thinking about trade and jobs, or to xenophobia.

So far, so good.

The point where we may disagree is this: I don’t think libertarianism (or its core ideas and values) entails open borders.

Without wha...

Rejoinder to Moller on Political Correctness

I still say Dan Moller should rethink his views on political correctness.  Here’s my point-by-point reply.  Moller in blockquotes, I’m not.

My view of political correctness is one of those in-between positions that everyone ends up hating: the left is wrong in ignoring PC run amok, the right is wrong in thinking PC is always and everywhere crazy.

I also have an in-between position.  But frankly, so do most full-blown social justice activists.  Who’s the most prominent thinker who denies that...

Moller Responds on Immigration

Part two of Dan Moller’s response to my analysis of Governing Least:

Immigration

I agree with Caplan that we should have high levels of immigration for both moral and self-interested reasons, and that a great deal of resistance to this traces back to confused zero-sum thinking about trade and jobs, or to xenophobia. The point where we may disagree is this: I don’t think libertarianism (or its core ideas and values) entails open borders. Reasonable people who take seriously individual rights,...

Moller Responds on Political Correctness

Dan Moller has accepted my invitation to respond to my analysis of Governing Least.  I’m splitting his response into two parts: political correctness today, immigration tomorrow.  Here’s Dan:

Thanks to Bryan Caplan for taking the time to read my book and giving me the chance to respond. Although we agree about a great deal, let me say something about two areas where we may disagree, political correctness and immigration.

Political Correctness

My view of political correctness is one of those...

“Politics Awaits”

Consider this scene from Quentin Tarantino’s WWII epic, Inglourious Basterds.  German movie star (and war hero) Fredrick Zoller is trying to persuade Joseph Goebbels to switch the venue for his new movie’s premiere.  Zoller’s real motive is to impress his would-be girlfriend, Shosanna, who owns a small theater.

GOEBBELS: How many seats in your auditorium?

SHOSANNA: Three hundred and fifty.

GOEBBELS: That’s almost four hundred less then The Ritz.

FREDRICK:  But dear Goebbels, that’s not such...

Backlash Immortal

Here’s a two-step exercise.

Step 1: Read this passage.

Based on research to date, there would seem to be little reason to worry about a protectionist backlash against globalization in response to rising inequality. If the “average” economist thinks that technology’s role has been four times as important as that of trade, surely policy discussion is focusing on how to even out the gains from technology, not on how to erect new trade barriers? Unfortunately, this is not the case. My reading of...

Big Business Round-up

Big Business is my favorite Tyler Cowen book in a long time.  In fact, I’d place it second after In Praise of Commercial Culture.  May the pro-market, pro-business genre wax fat!  In case you missed any of my posts on the book, here’s a full inventory:

1. Recasting the anti-hero – highlights and unfortunate omissions on construction, immigration, and labor markets.

2. Rollback – why doesn’t Tyler go much farther?

3. Triple standards – why do we judge business so much more harshly than govern...