Mercatus Center
The Surveillance State: When Tyranny Comes Home
updated
Tyler sat down with Ada to discuss why living in the Renaissance was worse than living during the Middle Ages, how art protected Florence, why she’s reluctant to travel back in time, which method of doing history is currently the most underrated, whose biography she’ll write, how we know what old Norse music was like, why women scholars helped us understand Viking metaphysics, why Diderot's Jacques the Fatalist is an interesting work, what people misunderstand about the inquisition(s), why science fiction doesn’t have higher social and literary status, which hive she would belong to in Terra Ignota, what the new novel she’s writing is about, and more.
Recorded June 28th, 2023.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/ada-palmer
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Tyler and Laz discuss what running 100 miles tells you about yourself that running 26 miles does not, why so many STEM professionals do ultramarathons, which skill holds people back the most, why his entrance fee is no more or less than $1.60, the importance of the Barkley’s opaque application process, how much each race costs to mount, whether he sees a decline in stoicism and inner strength in America, what accounting taught him about running, which books influenced him the most, who's going to win the NBA title next year, how he’s coping with increasing fame, the competition he’s most focused on now, and more.
Recorded June 29th, 2023.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lazarus-lake
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Spanning centuries and genres and yet provoking similar questions, these books prompted Tyler and Jerusalem to wrestle with enduring questions about human nature, gender dynamics, the purpose of travel, and moral progress, including debating whether Le Guin prefers the anarchist utopia she depicts, dissecting Swift's stance on science and slavery, questioning if travel makes us happier or helps us understand ourselves, comparing Gulliver and Shevek's alienation and restlessness, considering Swift’s views on the difficulty of moral progress, reflecting on how feminism links to moral progress and gender equality, contemplating whether imaginative fiction or policy analysis is more likely to spur social change, and more.
Recorded May 22nd, 2023.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jerusalem-demsas
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Anand reveals that he spent 25 minutes puzzling over the position before finally finding the brilliant bishop sacrifice 15...Bc5! - the key move that unlocked the combination. Though he didn't calculate every line out fully over the board, he intuitively knew the tactical themes he needed and the game played out beautifully from there.
Hear Anand's detailed analysis as he explains the critical moves like 16...Nde5!, 19...f5!! and more. He also points out the one move he considered that would have spoiled everything. Enjoy as one of history's greatest chess players breaks down his tactical brilliance move-by-move against one of the world's best in Aronian.
Full transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/vishy-anand
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Tyler and Vishy sat down in Chennai to discuss his breakthrough 1991 tournament win in Reggio Emilia, his technique for defeating Kasparov in rapid play, how he approached playing the volatile but brilliant Vassily Ivanchuk at his peak, a detailed breakdown of his brilliant 2013 game against Levon Aronian, dealing with distraction during a match, how he got out of a multi-year slump, Monty Python vs. Fawlty Towers, the most underrated Queen song, how far to take chess opening preparation, which style of chess will dominate in the next ten years, how AlphaZero changes what we know about the game, the key to staying a top ten player at age 53, why he thinks he's a worse loser than Kasparov, qualities he looks for in talented young Indian chess players, picks for the best places to eat in Chennai, and more.
Recorded August 7th, 2023.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/vishy-anand
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Special thanks to Nabeel Qureshi for his help with the video and transcript.
To mark MR's entrance into its third decade, long-time readers Ben Casnocha, Vitalik Buterin, and Jeff Holmes joined Alex and Tyler to talk about MR's legacy, including the golden age of blogging in the mid-2000s, the decline of independent blogs and the rise of social media, why Tyler usually has a post at 1 AM, the consistent design of the site, the peak of the blogosphere in the Great Recession, the robust community—and even marriage—forged through MR, the site's most underrated feature, Alex and Tyler's favorite commenters, how MR catalyzed separate real-world pandemic responses by each of them, the cessation of book clubs, Alex and Tyler's distinct writing style, iconic MR memes, what's happened to Tyrone, whether the site's popularity has tempted them into self-censoring, why it was Alex and Tyler who paired up amongst the other Mason econ bloggers, and more.
Recorded August 5th, 2023.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/marginal-revolution-20th-anniversary
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Recorded March 15th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/noam-dworman
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In this conversation, Tyler and David discuss ways in which Orthodox Christianity is not so millenarian, how theological patience shapes the polities of Orthodox Christian nations, how Heidegger deepened his understanding of Christian Orthodoxy, who played left field for the Baltimore Orioles in 1970, the simplest way to explain how Orthodoxy diverges from Catholicism, the future of the American Orthodox Church, what he thinks of the Book of Mormon, whether theological arguments are ultimately based on reason or faith, what he makes of reincarnation and near-death experiences, gnosticism in movies and TV, why he dislikes Sarah Ruden’s translation of the New Testament, the most difficult word to translate, a tally of the 15+ languages he knows, what he’ll work on next, and more.
Recorded March 23rd, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/david-bentley-hart
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Reid's podcast Possible is back this summer with a three-part miniseries called “AI and The Personal,” which launched on June 21st. Featured guests use AI, hardware, software and their own creativity to better people's daily lives. Subscribe to get the series: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070
Recorded May 9th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/reid-hoffman-2
Reid's latest book: impromptubook.com
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To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
Recorded February 27th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/noam-chomsky
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Photo credit: Duncan Rawlinson - Duncan.co flickr.com/photos/thelastminute
Peter joined Tyler to discuss whether utilitarianism is only tractable at the margin, how Peter thinks about the meat-eater problem, why he might side with aliens over humans, at what margins he would police nature, the utilitarian approach to secularism and abortion, what he’s learned producing the Journal of Controversial Ideas, what he’d change about the current Effective Altruism movement, where Derek Parfit went wrong, to what extent we should respect the wishes of the dead, why professional philosophy is so boring, his advice on how to enjoy our lives, what he’ll be doing after retiring from teaching, and more.
Recorded May 25th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/peter-singer
Peter's Latest Book: harpercollins.com/products/animal-liberation-now-peter-singer?variant=40952213110818
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Seth joined Tyler to discuss why direct marketing works at all, the marketing success of Trader Joe’s vs Whole Foods, why you can’t reverse engineer Taylor Swift’s success, how Seth would fix baseball, the brilliant marketing in ChatGPT’s design, the most underrated American visual artist, the problem with online education, approaching public talks as a team process, what makes him a good cook, his updated advice for aspiring young authors, how growing up in Buffalo shaped him, what he’ll work on next, and more.
Recorded March 23rd, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/seth-godin
Seth's Latest Book: amazon.com/Song-Significance-New-Manifesto-Teams/dp/0593715543
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For over three decades, Mr. Ahluwalia has held various positions in the Government of India, including Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, Finance Secretary, Commerce Secretary, Special Secretary to the Prime Minister, and Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance. He's also held several roles at the World Bank and the IMF.
Mr. Ahluwalia attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where he received an M.A. and an M.Phil. degree in Economics. His published work includes papers in professional journals and contributions to books. He is the author of the M-document, which provided a blueprint for India’s economic reforms in 1991, facilitating India’s transition from a socialist to a market-oriented economy. In 2019, he published his memoir, Backstage: The Story of India’s High Growth Years.
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
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Tyler and Simon discuss the ideas in the book and on Simon’s earlier work on finance and banking, including at what size a US bank is small enough to fail, the future of deposit insurance, when we’ll see a central bank digital currency, his top proposal for reforming the IMF, how quickly the Industrial Revolution led to widespread prosperity, whether AI will boost wages, how he changed his mind on the Middle Ages, the key difference in outlook between him and Daron, how he thinks institutions affect growth, how to fix northern England's economic climate, whether the UK should join NAFTA, improving science policy, the Simon Johnson production function, whether MBAs are overrated, the importance of communication, and more.
Recorded March 21st, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/simon-johnson
Simon's Latest Book: amazon.com/Power-Progress-Thousand-Year-Technology-Prosperity/dp/1541702530
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Naturally then, Kevin and Tyler start this conversation on advice: what kinds of advice Kevin was afraid to give, his worst advice, how to get better at following advice, and whether people who ask for advice really want it in the first place. Then they move on to the best places to see traditional cultures in Asia, the one thing in Kevin’s travel kit he can’t be without, his favorite part of India, why he’s so excited about brain-computer interfaces, how AI will change religion, what the Amish can teach us about tech adoption, the most underrated documentary, his initial entry point into tech, why he’s impressed by the way Jeff Bezos handles power, the last thing he's changed his mind about, how growing up in Westfield, New Jersey affected him, his next project called the Hundred Year Desirable Future, and more.
Recorded April 27th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/kevin-kelly
Kevin's Latest Book: amazon.com/Excellent-Advice-Living-Wisdom-Earlier-ebook/dp/B0BCF78T14
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Tyler sat down with Anna to discuss the most plausible scenario where England could’ve remained a republic in the 17th century, what Robert Boyle learned from Sir William Petty, why some monarchs build palaces and others don’t, how renting from the Landmark Trust compares to Airbnb, how her job changes her views on wealth taxes, why neighborhood architecture has declined, how she’d handle the UK’s housing shortage, why giving back the Koh-i-Noor would cause more problems than it solves, why British houses have so little storage, the hardest part about living in an 800-year-old house, her favorite John Fowles book, why we should do more to preserve the Scottish Enlightenment, and more.
Recorded February 23rd, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/anna-keay
Anna's Latest Book: amazon.com/Interregnum-Peoples-Republic-Anna-Keay/dp/0008282021/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2BJ76OC3AC26R&keywords=anna+keay&qid=1647460595&sprefix=anna+keay%2Caps%2C415&sr=8-1
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She joined Tyler to discuss if there are any useful gender stereotypes in science, distinguishing between productive and unproductive ways to encourage women in science, whether science Twitter is biased toward men, how AI will affect gender participation gaps, how Wikipedia should be improved, how she judges the effectiveness of her Wikipedia articles, how she’d improve science funding, her work on chiral materials and its near-term applications, whether writing a kid’s science book should be rewarded in academia, what she learned spending a year studying art in Florence, what she’ll do next, and more.
Recorded February 21st, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jess-wade
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Recorded February 1st, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/tom-holland
Tom’s latest book: amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/0465093507
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Yasheng joined Tyler to discuss China’s lackluster technological innovation, why declining foreign investment is more of a concern than a declining population, why Chinese literacy stagnated in the 19th century, how he believes the imperial exam system deprived China of a thriving civil society, why Chinese succession has been so stable, why the Six Dynasties is his favorite period in Chinese history, why there were so few female emperors, why Chinese and Chinese Americans have done less well becoming top CEOs of American companies than Indians and Indian Americans, where he’d send someone on a two week trip to China, what he learned from János Kornai, and more.
Recorded January 17th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/yasheng-huang
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Tyler and Brad discuss what can really be gleaned from the fragmentary economics statistics of the late 19th century, the remarkable changes that occurred from 1870-1920, the astonishing flourishing of German universities in the 19th century, why investment banking allowed America and Germany to pull ahead of Britain economically, what enabled the Royal Society to become a force for progress, what Keynes got wrong, what Hayek got right, whether the middle-income trap persists, his favorite movie and novel, blogging vs. Substack, the Slouching Towards Utopia director’s cut, and much more.
Recorded November 1st, 2022
Brad's latest book: amazon.com/Economic-History-Twentieth-Century/dp/0465019595
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/brad-delong
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Economic Impact of the Import Licensing System 00:01:18
Export Subsidies and Anti-Export Bias 00:12:20
Share in Global Trade 00:23:32
Balance of Payments Crisis in the Sixties 00:27:53
The Failed Attempt to Reform in the Sixties 01:00:51
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
Recorded January 11th, 2023
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/glenn-loury
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She joined Tyler to discuss how she became obsessed with John Donne, the power of memorizing poetry, the political implications of suicide in the 17th century, the new evidence of Donne’s faith, the contagious intensity of thought in 17th century British life, the effect of the plague on national consciousness, the brutality of boys’ schooling, the thrills and dangers of rooftop walking, why children should be more mischievous, why she’d like to lower the voting age to 16, her favorite UK bookshop, the wonderful weirdness of Diana Wynne Jones, why she has at least one joke about Belgium in every book, what T.S. Eliot missed about John Donne, what it’s like to eat tarantula, the Kafka book she gives to toddlers, why The Book of Common Prayer is underrated, and more.
Recorded September 2nd, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/katherine-rundell
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On this special year-in-review episode, Tyler and producer Jeff Holmes talk about the past year on the show, including which guests he’d like to have on in 2023, what stands out to him now about his conversation with Sam Bankman-Fried in light of the collapse of FTX, the most popular and most underrated episodes of the year, what makes a guest authentic, why he hasn’t asked the “production function” question much this year, his essay on Marginal Revolution on the New Right, and what he’s working on next. They also evaluate Tyler’s pop culture picks from 2012 and answer listener questions from Twitter.
Recorded December 14th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/conversations-wi…22-retrospective
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00:01:20 Socialism and the Indian Nationalist Movement
00:16:18 Impact on Human Capital Formation
00:23:09 Trade Policy in the 1940s in British India
00:31:35 Beginnings of the Kafkaesque Controls System
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
Our first episode drops on Jan. 4, 2023.
About Virtual Sentiments:
Whether it is the intensification of polarization, the dissemination of disinformation, or the expansion of surveillance, today’s digital technologies seem to radically disrupt liberal democratic politics. But what if the problems we face are less new than they first appear? In this podcast series, Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with the most pressing problems in political economy today with an eye to the past. What questions should we be asking about how technology, society and politics interact today? How can a historical perspective inform the future we are bringing into being?
Our first season examines Digital Democracy. Social media platforms have expanded the possibilities of global communication, giving citizens new means of expressing themselves. Challenges like disinformation, harassment, and radicalization online have punctured techno-utopian optimism regarding the internet’s democratic potential. We interview people thinking about the relationship between digital technology and democracy from a myriad of perspectives to confront both the new challenges modern technology introduces and the enduring problems that social media and artificial intelligence might exacerbate or ameliorate.
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He joined Tyler to discuss the most binding constraint on the green transition, why we need an alternative to lithium, the important message sent by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the marginal cost basis of green energy, the topsoil crisis in the Midwest, why estimates of the cost of global warming vastly underestimate its effects, why he distrusts economists, the overpricing concentrated in the US stock market, the consequences of Brexit, the revolutionary tactics of Margaret Thatcher, how his grandparents shaped his worldview, why he’s optimistic about American venture capital, the secret to Boston’s success in asset management, how COVID changed his media diet, the political difficulty of passing carbon taxes, and more.
Recorded September 1st, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jeremy-grantham
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Ken joined Tyler to discuss how facial expressions in photos have changed over time, where in the American past he’d like to visit most, the courage of staying in place, how he feels about intellectual property law, the ethical considerations of displaying violent imagery, why women were so prominent in the early history of American photography, the mysteries in his quilt collection, the most underrated American painter, why crossword puzzles are akin to a cup of coffee, why baseball won’t die out, the future of documentary-making, and more.
Recorded November 1st, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/ken-burns
Ken's latest book: amazon.com/Our-America-Photographic-Ken-Burns/dp/0385353014
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Bias Against Imports: 00:01:20
Coordination Externalities: 00:55:16
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
00:02:23: Diversification and Information Externalities
00:25:39: Capital Market Imperfections
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
He joined Tyler to discuss Shi’a and Christian notions of martyrdom, the heroism of Howard Baskerville, the differences between Sunni and Shi’a Islam, esoteric vs. exoteric expressions of religion, how mystical movements arise more organically than religion, the conflicts over Imams in the Islamic world, how his upbringing as an Iranian immigrant shaped his view of religion, his roundabout spiritual journey, the synthesis of Spinoza and Sufism, the origins of Wahhabism, the relationship (or lackthereof) between religion and political philosophy, the sad repetition of history in Iran, his favorite Iranian movie, and more.
Recorded October 12th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/reza-aslan
Reza's latest book: amazon.com/American-Martyr-Persia-Tragic-Baskerville/dp/1324004479
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“less a history of U.S.-Israel policy than a sweeping and masterfully told history of U.S. foreign policy in general”, according to a New York Times review.
He joined Tyler to discuss how the decline of American religiosity has influenced US foreign policy, which American presidents best and least understood the Middle East, the shrewd reasons Stalin supported Israel, the Saudi secret to political stability, the fate of Pakistan, the most likely scenario for China moving on Taiwan, the gun pointed at the head of German business, the US’s “murderous fetishization of ideology over reality” in Sub-Saharan Africa, the inherent weakness in having a foreign policy establishment dominated by academics, what he learned from attending the Groton School, and much more.
Recorded August 31st, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/walter-russell-mead
Walter's latest book: amazon.com/Arc-Covenant-United-States-Israel/dp/0375414045
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He joined Tyler to discuss workforce training in the digital economy, re-evaluating college degree requirements in recruitment, why IQ is overrated and conscientiousness is underrated, the major opportunity gap in on-the-job training, what people miss about the German apprenticeship model, the best novel about finding a job, what’s gone wrong with American men, why we need signal pluralism for higher education admission, why he’s wary of AI for predicting labor outcomes, what happened when Maryland rolled back degree requirements for state jobs, the incentive problems in higher education, and more.
Recorded September 6th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/byron-auguste
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He joined Tyler to discuss how he began learning languages, the best languages for expressing humor, why he curses in Slovak, why he considers Finnish more romantic than Portugese, what makes Hungarian so difficult to learn, the best way to teach people new languages, how to combat language loss, why he’d like rural Mexicans to have more pride in their culture and way of life, his time as a roadie for a punk rock van, the most rewarding job he’s had, why he wants to visit Finland, how enjoying films from different eras is similar to learning new languages, the future of English, and more.
Recorded May 26th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/vaughn-smith
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Daniel and Tyler also discuss undervalued talents and skills, what talents they look for in the start-up and investment world, why there is no good chocolate ice cream to be found in San Fransico, what their exercise preferences indicate about their personalities, how they approach identifying talent in different countries and industries, how immigration impacts entrepreneurialism, the short-comings to Zoom interviews, what a messy desk reveals about a person, and more.
Recorded June 29th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/talkingtalent
Tyler and Daniel’s latest book: amazon.com/Talent-Identify-Energizers-Creatives-Winners/dp/1250275814
Subscribe to Shruti's podcast Ideas of India: mercatus.org/podcasts
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A Liberal Empire is a contradiction in terms. Yet, the justification for the American Empire has been defended by claiming US interventionism makes the world safer. This book demonstrates the hubris of that argument and shows how intervention begets further intervention, making the world more dangerous. Learn more from the trailer and pick up your copy at Amazon.
Purchase the book: amzn.to/3PxSt8p
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William joined Tyler to discuss why the movement has gained so much traction and more, including his favorite inefficient charity, what form of utilitarianism should apply to the care of animals, the limits of expected value, whether effective altruists should be anti-abortion, whether he would side with aliens over humans, whether he should give up having kids, why donating to a university isn’t so bad, whether we are living in “hingey” times, why buildering is overrated, the sociology of the effective altruism movement, why cultural innovation matters, and whether starting a new university might be next on his slate.
Recorded July 7th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/william-macaskill
Will's latest book: whatweowethefuture.com
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CHAPTERS
00:01:04 Infant Industry Arguments
00:13:44 Learning
00:48:27 Concentrated Benefits, Dispersed Costs
01:00:13 Protectionism and Building Export Capability
01:21:07 Are Network Goods a Special Case?
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
Barkha joined Tyler to discuss how Westerners can gain a more complete picture of India, the misogyny still embedded in Indian society, why family law should be agnostic of religious belief, the causes of declining fertility in India, why relations between Hindus and Muslims seem to be worsening, how caste has persisted so strongly in India, the success of India’s subsidized institutes of higher education, the best city for Indian food, the power of Amar Chitra Katha’s comics, the influence of her English liberal arts education, the future of Anglo-American liberalism in India, the best ways to use Twitter, and more.
Recorded May 5th, 2022
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/barkha-dutt
Barkha’s latest book: amazon.com/HELL-BACK-Humans-COVID/dp/9391165575
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Marc joined Tyler to discuss his ever-growing appreciation for the humanities and more, including why he didn’t go to a better school, his contrarian take on Robert Heinlein, how Tom Wolfe helped Marc understand his own archetype, who he’d choose to be in Renaissance Florence, which books he’s reread the most, Twitter as an X-ray machine on public figures, where in the past he’d most like to time-travel, his favorite tech product that no longer exists, whether Web will improve podcasting, the civilization-level changes made possible by remote work, Peter Thiel’s secret to attracting talent, which data he thinks would be most helpful for finding good founders, how he’d organize his own bookstore, the kinds of people he admires most, and why Deadwood is equal to Shakespeare.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/marc-andreessen
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Jamal and Tyler discuss what he’d change about America’s legal education system, the utility of having non-judges or even non-lawyers on the Supreme Court, how America’s racial history influences our conception of rights, the potential unintended consequences of implementing his vision of rights for America, how the law should view economic liberty, the ideal moral framework for adjudicating conflicts, whether social media companies should consider interdependencies when moderating content on their platforms, how growing up in different parts of New York City shaped his views on pluralism, the qualities that make some law students stand out, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/jamal-greene
Jamal’s latest book: amazon.com/How-Rights-Went-Wrong-Obsession/dp/1328518116
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CHAPTERS:
0:00:56 What is the Relationship Between Free Trade and Growth?
0:13:45 Does Free Trade Benefit the Poor?
0:30:01 The Relationship Between Economic Growth and GDP Per Capita
0:43:12 The South Korean Miracle
1:06:35 Does Targeted Industrial Policy Help?
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://www.The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
To learn more about The 1991 Project, which commemorates 30 years of India's market reforms, visit https://The1991Project.com.
To learn more about the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies and its work, visit https://indianeconomy.columbia.edu.
Chris and Tyler also cover why he doesn’t think demographics are a good predictor of a country’s willingness to go to war, the informal norms that restrain nations, the dangers of responding to cyberattacks, the breakdown of elite bargains in Ethiopia, the relationship between high state capacity and war, the greatest threats to peace in Ireland, why political speech isn’t usually a reliable indicator of future action, Vladimir Putin’s centralized motives for invading Ukraine, why he’s long on Colombia democratically – but not economically, why more money won’t necessarily help the Mexican government curb cartel violence, the single-mindedness necessary for bouldering, how Harold Innis’s insights about commodities led Chris to start studying war, how the University of Chicago has maintained a culture of free inquiry, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/chris-blattman-whywefight
Chris’ latest book: amazon.com/Why-We-Fight-Roots-Paths-ebook/dp/B099VV73ZH
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He joined Tyler to discuss just how egalitarian France actually is, the beginning of the end of aristocratic society, where he places himself within French intellectual history, why he’s skeptical of data from before the late 18th century, how public education drives economic development, why Georgism isn’t sufficient to address wealth inequality, the relationship between wealth and cultural capital, his proposal for a minimum inheritance, why he turned down the Legion of Honor, why France should give reparations to Haiti despite the logistical difficulties of doing so, his vision for European federalism, why more immigration won’t be a panacea for inequality, his thoughts on Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/thomas-piketty
Thomas’ latest book: amazon.com/Brief-History-Equality-Thomas-Piketty/dp/0674273559
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Roy joined Tyler to discuss why the Scots got off easier than the Irish under English rule, the truths and misconceptions about Ireland as a policy laboratory for the British government, why spoken Irish faded more rapidly than Welsh, the single question that drove a great flowering of Irish economic thought, how Foster’s Quaker education shaped his view of Irish history, how the Battle of the Somme and the 1916 Easter Rising cemented the rift between the Northeast and the rest of the country, what went wrong with Irish trade policies between the 1920s and 1970s, the power of Irish education, why the re-emergence of The Troubles in the 1960s may not have been as inevitable as many people believe, the cultural effects of Ireland’s pro-Allied neutrality in World War II, how Irish visual art is beginning to be looked at in a similar way to Irish literature, the social and economic changes of the 1970s that began to radically reshape Irish society, the reasons for Ireland’s openness to foreigners, what Irish Americans misunderstand, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/roy-foster
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Lydia joined Tyler to discuss how the form of short stories shapes their content, how to persuade an ant to leave your house, the difference between poetry and very short stories, Proust’s underrated sense of humor, why she likes Proust despite being averse to long books, the appeal of Josep Pla’s The Gray Notebook, why Proust is funnier in French or German than in English, the hidden wit of Franz Kafka, the economics of poorly translated film subtitles, her love of Velázquez and early Flemish landscape paintings, how Bach and Schubert captured her early imagination, why she doesn’t like the Harry Potter novels—but appreciates their effects on young readers, whether she’ll ever publish her diaries, how her work has evolved over time, how to spot talent in a young writer, her method (or lack thereof) for teaching writing, what she learned about words that begin with “wr,” how her translations of Proust and Flaubert differ from others, what she’s most interested in translating now, what we can expect from her next, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/lydia-davis
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He joined Tyler to discuss the Sam Bankman-Fried production function, the secret to his trading success, how games like Magic: The Gathering have shaped his approach to business, why a legal mind is crucial when thinking about cryptocurrencies, the most important thing he’s learned about managing, what Bill Belichick can teach us about being a good leader, the real constraints in the effective altruism space, why he’s not very compelled by life extension research, challenges to his Benthamite utilitarianism, whether it’s possible to coherently regulate stablecoins, the implicit leverage in DeFi, Elon Musk’s greatest product, why he thinks Ethereum is overrated, where in the world has the best French fries, why he’s bullish on the Bahamas, and more.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sam-bankman-fried
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Sebastian joined Tyler to discuss why venture capital skills aren’t more replicable, the promise of biotech despite increased regulations, why venture capital remains concentrated in the Bay area even after the pandemic, the differences in risk-taking between East and West coast finance, the secret to Mike Moritz’s success as an investor, how Peter Thiel’s understanding of the power law set him apart, why he isn’t interested in becoming a venture capitalist himself, his predictions for the European tech ecosystem over the next ten years, the original sin of “too big to fail,” the major failure of Alan Greenspan during his tenure at the Fed, the Darwinian evolution of good hedge fund strategy, what Ray Dalio got right with Bridgewater, the finance topics he feels are undercovered, what it takes to be a good Substack writer, why he’s bullish on The Information, reasons to be optimistic about the innovative and entrepreneurial trajectories of Japan, the greatest living British historians, the future of the World Bank once China stops borrowing from it, what’s causing the decline in popularity of liberal capitalism, the zany appeal of The Grand Budapest Hotel, and more.
Sebastian's latest book: amazon.com/gp/product/B0942SZJ8H/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/sebastian-mallaby
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