The (Liberty) Detective

Economics, liberty, and the economics of liberty
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  • Garrett Petersen

The German Economic Miracle with David Henderson Oct 22, 2017

Returning to the podcast is David Henderson of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. Our topic for today is the German Economic Miracle. David wrote an article on it for the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. The article begins as follows: “After World War II the German economy lay in shambles. The war, along with Hitler’s scorched-earth policy, had destroyed 20 percent of all housing. Food production per capita in 1947 was only 51 percent of its level in 1938, and the official food ration set by the occupying powers varied between 1,040 and 1,550...

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Corruption and Spatial Econometrics with Jamie Pavlik Oct 14, 2017

My guest today is Jamie Pavlik of Texas Tech University. Jamie has done a ton of research on corruption and development. She has examined corruption in the developing world, with multiple papers examining corruption in Brazil. She has also looked at international comparisons of corruption, and corruption in the United States specifically. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Corruption and Spatial Econometrics with Jamie Pavlik appeared first on The Economics Detective

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Brexit, Its Economic Impact, and International Disintegration with Thomas Sampson Oct 6, 2017

My guest today is Thomas Sampson of the London School of Economics. Our topic for today is the economic impact of Brexit. Long-time listeners will recall that I did an interview with Sam Bowman on Brexit immediately after the vote occurred. Think of this as a follow-up to that episode now that the dust has settled and we have a better idea of what Brexit is going to look like. Thomas has written multiple papers on the subject, including Brexit: The Economics of International Disintegration, which is forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Its abstract follows: (more…) Subscribe to...

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Markups, Market Concentration, and Monopolistic Competition with Karl Smith Sep 29, 2017

My guest today is Karl Smith, he is the director of economic research at the Niskanen center. Our topic for today will be market power. Karl has written a series of posts on the Niskanen center blog discussing markups and market power. The debate was sparked by a paper by Loecker and Eeckhout that claimed that average markups in the American economy had risen from 18 percent in 1980 to 67 percent today. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Markups, Market Concentration, and Monopolistic Competition with Karl Smith appeared first on The Economics Detective

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Sociology and Social Science with Fabio Rojas Sep 9, 2017

My guest today is Fabio Rojas. He is professor of sociology at Indiana University Bloomington. Fabio is the author of three books, the first is From Black Power to Black Studies: How a Radical Social Movement Became an Academic Discipline, published in 2007. The second book, coauthored with Michael Heaney, is Party in the Street: The Antiwar Movement and the Democratic Party after 9/11, published in 2015. The third book, Theory for the Working Sociologist, was published just recently in 2017. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Sociology and Social Science with Fabio Rojas...

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Compensating Blood, Fluid, and Organ Donors with Peter Jaworski Sep 1, 2017

My guest is Peter Jaworski of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. He is the author, along with Jason Brennan, of Markets Without Limits. We recorded this on August 24th, 2017, the same day Peter published an op-ed in the National Post titled “Canada needs blood plasma. We should pay donors to get it.” The op-ed argues in favour of allowing people who donate blood plasma in Canada to be compensated in return: (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Compensating Blood, Fluid, and Organ Donors with Peter Jaworski appeared first on The Economics Detective

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Pepsi, Niche Marketing, and Neoliberal Social Justice with Samuel Hammond Aug 26, 2017

Samuel Hammond is returning to the podcast today to discuss the relationship between capitalism and social justice. Sam was prompted to write about this by an insensitive Pepsi commercial that caused some controversy in April 2017. The controversial ad featured generic protesters and Kendall Jenner sharing a Pepsi with police. While the ad was insensitive and more than a little absurd, Sam pointed out that Pepsi has a history of promoting social justice and racial harmony through its marketing. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Pepsi, Niche Marketing, and Neoliberal Social Justice with Samuel...

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Cuban Healthcare with Vincent Geloso Aug 19, 2017

This episode’s guest is Vincent Geloso, here to talk about his work on Cuban healthcare statistics. He recently released a working paper with coauthor Gilbert Berdine titled “The Paradox of Good Health and Poverty: Assessing Cuban Health Outcomes under Castro.” (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Cuban Healthcare with Vincent Geloso appeared first on The Economics Detective

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Can the Truth be Repugnant? Should it be? Aug 16, 2017

Let’s consider a series of statements, without considering whether any of them are right or wrong: People should be treated with respect, regardless of their ethnicity. All ethnic groups have the same average IQ after controlling for cultural biases in IQ tests. Women should be treated with respect and accepted in traditionally male-dominated workplaces. There are no biological differences between men and women that affect their interests or abilities. Homosexuals and homosexual relationships should be given the same respect and acceptance as heterosexuals and heterosexual relationships. Children brought up by same-sex parents do as well or better than children brought...

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Pediatrician Fired Over Anti-Diversity Memo Aug 9, 2017

Bloomberg reports that ABC Children’s Hospital has fired an employee who wrote an internal memo blasting the hospital’s diversity policies, creating a firestorm across the medical community. She said: “The distribution of preferences and abilities of women and men differ in part due to biological causes, and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of men in pediatrics and psychiatry.” Jane Damore, the pediatrician who wrote the note, confirmed her dismissal in an email, saying that she had been fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.” She said she’s “currently exploring all possible legal remedies.” The imbroglio at...

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The French Revolution, Property Rights, and the Coase Theorem with Noel Johnson Jul 29, 2017

My guest for this episode is Noel Johnson of George Mason University, and if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he was the coauthor on the paper I discussed with Mark Koyama last month. Noel recently released a working paper titled “The Effects of Land Redistribution: Evidence from the French Revolution.” It is co-authored with Theresa Finley and Raphael Franck. The paper examines the consequences of the land auctions held by the Revolutionary government in France. The abstract reads as follows: This study exploits the confiscation and auctioning off of Church property that occurred during the French Revolution to assess...

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The Seattle Minimum Wage Study with Ekaterina Jardim Jul 28, 2017

My guest for this episode is Ekaterina Jardim of the University of Washington. Ekaterina is one of the authors of the new minimum wage study that has been making headlines recently, “Minimum Wage Increases, Wages, and Low-Wage Employment: Evidence from Seattle.” One reason this study is so interesting is that it was funded by the City of Seattle, which is something that governments aren’t obligated or expected to do when they enact major policy changes like these minimum wage hikes. There was a broad theoretical and empirical consensus in the 1980s that higher minimum wages have disemployment effects on the...

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Housing, Liquidity, and Closed-Access Cities with Kevin Erdmann Jul 14, 2017

My guest today is Kevin Erdmann, he blogs about economics and finance at Idiosyncratic Whisk. Kevin has written a ton about housing, as evidenced by the titles of his blog posts. A recent one is labeled Housing: Part 239. This series is part of a larger book project that Kevin is publically drafting on his blog. We discuss the housing bubble of the 2000s and the post-2008 housing market. I took my first undergraduate economics class in 2008, just as the financial crisis was beginning, so there’s never been a time in my economics career when people weren’t talking about...

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Replicating Anomalies in Financial Markets with Hou, Xue, and Zhang Jul 7, 2017

In this episode, I have three guests on the show with me: Kewei Hou of Ohio State University, Chen Xue of the University of Cincinnati, and Lu Zhang of Ohio State University. Kewei, Chen, and Lu have coauthored a paper titled “Replicating Anomalies,” a large-scale replication study that re-tests hundreds of so-called “anomalies” in financial markets. An anomaly is a predictable pattern in stock returns, or stated differently, it is a deviation from the efficient markets hypothesis. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Replicating Anomalies in Financial Markets with Hou, Xue, and Zhang appeared...

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The Financial Diaries with Jonathan Morduch Jul 7, 2017

The guest for this episode is Jonathan Morduch, he is a professor of public policy and economics at NYU and the author of The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty, co-authored with Rachel Schneider. The book looks at the financial situations of ordinary American families. It is centered around a detailed survey of 235 households where they recorded what they earned and what they spent at an extremely granular level. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post The Financial Diaries with Jonathan Morduch appeared first on The Economics Detective

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Synthetic Control and the Impact of Hugo Chavez with Kevin B. Grier Jun 16, 2017

My guest on this episode is Kevin B. Grier of the University of Oklahoma. Our topic for today is a paper Kevin wrote on the economic consequences of Hugo Chavez along with coauthor Norman Maynard. I had Francisco Toro on the show last year to discuss Venezuela’s economic history, so you can listen to that episode if you want a refresher on Chavez. For this episode, our main topic is the empirical method Kevin used to quantify Chavez’ effect on Venezuela: synthetic control. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Synthetic Control and the Impact...

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State Capacity and the Rise of the Modern Nation State with Mark Koyama Jun 9, 2017

My guest for this episode is Mark Koyama of George Mason University. Our topic is a recent paper titled, “States and Economic Growth: Capacity and Constraints,” which Mark coauthored with Noel Johnson. Just recorded at great podcast with @GarrettPetersen on my work on state capacity (with @ndjohnson). — Mark Koyama (@MarkKoyama) May 24, 2017 As stated in the paper, “state capacity describes the ability of a state to collect taxes, enforce law and order, and provide public goods.” That said, state capacity does not mean big government. A state may have the power to impose rules across its territory, but...

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Money, Trade, and Economic Growth in the Early Modern Period with Nuno Palma Jun 3, 2017

My guest for this episode is Nuno Palma, he is an assistant professor of economics, econometrics, and finance at the University of Groningen. Our discussion begins with the monetary history of England. Nuno has authored a study that reconstructs England’s money supply from 1270 to 1870. We discuss his methods and findings. We also discuss the influx of precious metals into European markets after the discovery of the New World. (more…) Subscribe to Economics Detective Radio on iTunes, Android, or Stitcher.The post Money, Trade, and Economic Growth in the Early Modern Period with Nuno Palma appeared first on The Economics...

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The Economic History of War and Conflict with Jari Eloranta May 27, 2017

My guest for this episode is Jari Eloranta, he is a professor of comparative economic and business history at Appalachian State University. Jari’s work focuses on the economic history of national defense. In this far-reaching conversation, we go all the way back to pre-modern societies’ methods of financing their militaries, then trace the transitions up through the early modern period and into the 20th century. We discuss the way war has shaped modern states and institutions. Books mentioned: The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It, by David A. Bell. The Gunpowder Age:...

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Rentberry, Digital Markets, and Affordable Housing with Alex Lubinsky Apr 15, 2017

My guest today is Alex Lubinsky, co-founder of the Silicon Valley startup Rentberry. Rentberry is a platform that lets landlords post units for rent so that tenants can bid on them. Once a landlord posts a vacancy, different potential tenants can make offers and the landlord can select which one to rent to. Importantly, the landlord doesn’t have to select the highest bidder. Potential tenants on Rentberry put in their personal characteristics up on the site, so landlords can select for the type of tenants they want. Maybe they’re willing to accept a lower rent from a quiet single woman...

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