Words & Numbers

Federal policies have been hitting small businesses particularly hard. From the lockdown to heightened IRS scrutiny to an increased minimum wage to an expanded estate tax, many federal policies harm small businesses more than corporations and so jeopardizes the livelihoods of almost half of American workers. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show...

This week we discuss a smorgasbord of topics related to the division of power among the branches: pardons, judicial review, agencies, and bureaucracy. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/sta...

Episode 206: A Dutch immigrant gives us a view of the United States from the outside, and a view of the Netherlands from the inside: immigration, taxes, social safety nets, and community. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://www.politico.co...

The riots in Washington DC and the riots in Seattle have revealed some troubling hypocrisy. Many of those who were for one were against the other. While the impetus behind them was different, the justifications people invoked were the same. This inconsistency is what happens when we ignore principles in favor of justifying outcomes. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.coopera...

With the start of a new year, James and Ant look at the phenomenon of nostalgia. Why do we tend to look back on the past with a fondness, and what dangers does that imply for how we look at the present? Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits Walk wit...

We haven’t seen widespread adoption of alternative energy because, for many decades, energy generated from fossil fuels was cheaper. As with any technology, as time progressed, superior technologies evolved. Also, as time progressed, demand for alternative energy increased, resulting in economies of scale. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Yo...

This Christmas special is a montage of “best of” moments from Words and Numbers. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all our listeners and supporters! Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Join the Conversation Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.faceb...

The tool each of us uses most often - language - presents an interesting contradiction. To communicate ideas clearly and efficiently, words must have meanings. Yet, because language is an emergent phenomenon, words and words’ meanings change. This has important implications for everything from how we interact with each other on a daily basis to what rights the Constitution claims to protect. Get Y...

For our 200th episode, Larry Reed joins us to talk about his experiences in spreading the good news of liberty and freedom. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits Hope https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A939RX0Q048SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/ser...

Many people’s misunderstandings about disparate subjects like insurance, profits, and financial speculators have their roots in a single source - a misunderstanding of risk. One of the most important discoveries that gave rise to our technologically advanced world is how to turn risk into a commodity that can be bought and sold. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperation...

In part 2 of this two-part episode, Steve Horwitz joins us to discuss the realities and myths surrounding gender discrimination and the gender pay gap. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick HitsWomen comprise 67% of HR workforce https://www.hrdive.com/ne...

In part 1 of this two-part episode, Steve Horwitz joins us to discuss the realities and myths surrounding gender discrimination and the gender pay gap. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick HitsWhat the Constitution means to me https://constitutionbroadw...

One of the unintended consequences of government overreach is that everything becomes politicized. Much of the acrimony in our political environment is due to the fact that the government has (and often uses) the power to tell people how to live their lives. That power, in turn, comes from the fact that the people ask government for more and more stuff, handing over more of their power with each r...

In this second of a two-part series, we continue the conversation with Clark Neily about differences in publicly provided and privately provided goods and services. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits$10,000,000,000,000,000,000 https://www.cbsnews...

Some goods and services we choose to provide via the government (mail delivery). Some we choose to provide via markets (grocery stores). And some we choose to provide via government and markets working together (road construction), or via them working in competition (education). This week, Clark Neily joins us to compare and contrast publicly provided and privately provided goods and services. Get...

Periodically, the Congressional Budget Office forecasts federal debt, revenue, and spending. For decades, the CBO has underestimated the future debt. If we adjust CBO’s forecasts by their historical error, we get a clearer picture of where the federal government’s finances will be in the next decade. Interestingly, the debt is approaching a point not seen since the first decade of our history when...

The United States is poised to rack up a record trade deficit this year. Politicians and the media will make a big deal about this, but the truth is that trade deficits really don’t matter. Trade is simply an exchange. So long as it’s voluntary, by definition, both parties are better off. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Wor...

James and Ant offer a post-game discussion of the first Presidential debate. Unfortunately, “post-game” is the right word because, for as much as the left and right bicker, the two parties have become largely the same. Regardless of who wins, the government goes on doing the same things it has always done. Mostly what people do now is to root for their team, not out of principle, but because it’s...

We devote plenty of time to discussing things that the government does wrong. This week, we change gears as Clark Neily joins us to discuss things throughout history that the Supreme Court has done right. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits Deaths...

Little by little, things appear to be getting back to normal following COVID and the lockdown. James and Ant discuss what the world will look like as we recover from COVID. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits Emu Today and Tomorrow https://www.emu...

Roger Ver, founder of bitcoin.com joins us this week to discuss the emergence of cryptocurrency as the answer to the problem of inflated sovereign currencies. Widespread adoption of cryptocurrency will likely emerge at about the same time that the US dollar begins to lose its value to the inflation needed to fund the government’s insatiable appetite for debt. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coerc...

Andrew Heaton joins us to discuss comedy, politics, and that we can’t seem to laugh at ourselves anymore because our politics have become our religion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our response to COVID has imposed changes across the whole economy. One of the industries that is likely to bear the lion’s share of those changes is higher education. COVID policies are laying bare the fact that both students and administrators have come to regard college less as a place to obtain an education than as a place to obtain a four-year “experience.” Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Co...

Steve Horwitz is back with us this week to discuss the Great Depression. The story that’s commonly handed down in high school history courses doesn’t match what economists and historians have come to understand about it. The government’s response was less an exercise in macroeconomic policy than it was an exercise in social engineering. The lessons of what didn’t work and why are important to us a...

Todd Zywicki, Professor of Law at GMU and head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s Task Force on Consumer Financial Law joins us to discuss the pros and cons of consumer protection and financial regulation. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick H...