Frequent guest Bob Murphy returns, this time talking about his new (co-authored) book, The Case for IBC. This is an acronym for “Infinite Banking Concept,” a strategy that uses properly designed whole life insurance policies as a way to “become your own banker.” The concept was… Read More
Search Results for: free trade
Ep. 1307 The Economist Ron Paul Wants You to Know
Ron Paul says he can’t think of a more prolific free-market economist in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis than my guest today, Bob Murphy. Today we follow Bob’s personal and intellectual trajectory, from a high school student who knew he wanted to be… Read More
Ep. 1272 Gene Epstein on How to Debate a Socialist
Fresh off his Soho Forum debate victory (as measured by Oxford-style rules) against Jacobin magazine editor Bhaskar Sunkara, Gene Epstein joins me for a review of the event and the arguments that gave his opponent so much difficulty. Sponsor Skillshare is an online learning community with over… Read More
Ep. 1249 Continually Mistaken, Chronically Admired: The Strange Case of an Establishment Economist
Joseph Stiglitz is something of a celebrity economist, yet he’s been grotesquely wrong both economically and morally so often. His case tells us a lot about the American establishment if he is the kind of person they hold up for our admiration. Gene Epstein joins… Read More
Ep. 1233 Keynesianism Flattened
Keynesian economists believe the market economy tends toward the chronic underemployment or unemployment of resources, and requires wise management. and whether the topic is austerity, business cycles, debt, or a wide variety of other things, they’re just dead wrong. And there is no better slayer… Read More
Ep. 1232 Are Workers Getting Shafted?
We hear on a regular basis that workers, whether because of free trade, or capitalism generally, or whatever other institution or trend, are getting the short end of the stick. An ever-smaller share of national income is making its way into workers’ pockets. But is… Read More
Ep. 1188 Just When You Thought We’d Smashed the Schools Good, Along Comes Gene Epstein
Gene Epstein joins me to make if anything an even more radical case against the existing education system than Bryan Caplan does in the latter’s recent book The Case Against Education. Whatever “but surely you agree we have to have X!” arguments you’ve heard, Gene anticipates… Read More
Ep. 1142 Why Does Politics Yield Perverse Outcomes Again and Again?
Why does politics so consistently yield perverse outcomes, of a sort it would be unthinkable to encounter in the private sector? Bob Murphy joins me for a discussion of Public Choice theory, which applies an understanding of economic incentives to the way political institutions operate.… Read More
Ep. 1125 Are Economists Obsessed With “Efficiency”?
The general public sure thinks they are — and sometimes, economists give them good reason to think so. Bob Murphy joins me to discuss (and critique) the Coase Theorem, which purports to solve an important economic puzzle, but which makes methodologically suspect moves that it… Read More
Ep. 1089 Noam Chomsky: The Good and the Bad
Gene Epstein, formerly of Barron’s, joins me to discuss the work of Noam Chomsky, whose views in some areas are so well formed, and in others are simplistic and disappointing. Chomsky is one of the people who Gene says led him to libertarianism, so this is… Read More