Words & Numbers

This week’s episode is a live recording of a panel discussion on free speech at the University of Washington. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Christin Gilmer https://www.linkedin.com/in/christingilme...

This week, historian Rob McDonald, Constitutional scholar and lawyer Clark Neily, philosophy James Stacey Taylor, and economist Howard Baetjer join James and Ant around a fire to discuss the indictments against former President Donald Trump. To accommodate the extended conversation, this week we forego our usual quick hits and foolishness of the week. We think you'll agree that, regardless of on w...

Weird things are happening. Retail sales have stagnated, savings are markedly down, yet unemployment is low, inflation isn’t as bad as it was. Have we reached a “new normal?” Foolishness of the week: 05:00 Main episode: 06:41 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words &...

For decades and where the law is ambiguous, courts have invoked the Chevron doctrine in allowing regulatory agencies to decide for themselves the meaning of the ambiguous language. Unsurprisingly, agencies invariably interpret ambiguous language in their own favors. The Supreme Court recently agreed to reconsider the Chevron doctrine. Overturning the doctrine could call into question decades’ wort...

People are saying that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs and enslave humans. We’ve heard this many times before. Before artificial intelligence, people said it about computers. Before computers, they said it about machines. Not only were people wrong before, they were spectacularly wrong. They’re likely wrong again. Foolishness of the week: 09:15 Main episode: 10:16 Get Your Copy of Cooper...

Episode 327: To Vote or Not To Vote This week’s episode comes live from Sandy High School in Sandy Oregon where James and I give arguments for and against voting. Foolishness of the week: 07:56 Main episode: 08:37 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at P...

We hear that women make 80 cents for every dollar that men make, and that blacks earn less than whites. This week, we delve into the data and find these claims far more complicated and interesting than they first appear. Foolishness of the week: 02:50 Main episode: 03:25 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsand...

One of the things that cryptocurrency has done is to prompt central banks to develop their own digital currencies. These will combine the downsides of private digital currencies with the downsides of government currencies. Foolishness of the week: 08:21 Main episode: 09:58 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsa...

The question, “How much do Americans earn?” seems simple. But there are so many moving parts below the surface that there is no single answer. For example, by “earn” do we mean “money from a job” or are we including interest income. What about Social Security retirement benefits? What about government welfare benefits? When we say “Americans” do we mean individual workers, or families, or househol...

What happens if the dollar is no longer a world currency? Financial expert Pete Earle joins us to discuss his recent article on the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Foolishness of the week: 05:42 Main episode: 07:39 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Word...

Bank runs, green investing, doctor shortage in Europe, are people getting dumber? Foolishness of the week: 09:07 Main episode: 11:32 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical...

Episode 321: Space and Property As humans venture out into space - not just under the auspices of government, but now as private citizens - establishing and adjudicating property rights will become ever more important. The treaty under which countries operate was signed back in the 1960s. It says that government may not lay claim to anything beyond Earth, but is completely silent about private cit...

Episode 320: Politics, Anarchy, and Baseball   Economist, former mayor, self-professed anarchist, and baseball fan Randy Simmons joins us this week to talk about government and politics through the eyes of someone who is both a skeptic of government and who served in elected office. We recorded this episode in January, but saved it for the opening of baseball season. You’ll hear why in the episode...

Many listeners have asked that we do an episode on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and its implications for the rest of the banking sector. Peter Earle, economist and former Wall Street trader, joins us to talk about what happened, how it might have been avoided, what comes next, and whether the rest of the banking system is in danger. Foolishness of the week: 04:10 Main episode: 05:50 Get Your...

Foolishness of the week: 12:19 Main episode: 16:54   People’s view of the past is biased because we tend to forget the bad things. The (inexplicable to an economist) tendency of young people to think that like in the 1950s was better than life today is one example. This week, we talk about this tendency to nostalgia and how it shows up in pop-culture.   Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion No...

Words and Numbers is a weekly half-hour podcast that explores current events through the eyes of an economist and political scientist. The show is an alternative to the shouting heads that occupy most public discussions. We follow evidence and reason where they lead for a non-partisan  and entertaining approach to topics relating to politics, economics, and government. Learn more about your ad cho...

Foolishness of the week: 07:11 Main episode: 11:20 Economic historian Phil Magness joins us to talk about how the popular 1619 Project gets both the history and the relationship between slavery and capitalism wrong. This is the second of a two-part episode. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Sh...

Foolishness of the week: 04:55 Main episode: 07:34   Economic historian Phil Magness joins us to talk about how the popular 1619 Project gets both the history and the relationship between slavery and capitalism wrong. This is the first of a two-part episode.   Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org...

Foolishness of the Week: 06:19 Main episode: 07:37 As recently as two months ago, many economists were concerned that significant inflation was here to stay. But last month’s data show that inflation is back near zero. Whether this is good news or simply a brief respite, we won’t know for another few months.   Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See...

There is much evidence pointing to a relationship between increased trade and improved socio-economic factors like income, poverty, equality, and the environment. But there’s a disturbing trend afoot. World trade (measured as exports and imports as a fraction of world GDP) is down 5% since 2011, and US trade is down 20% over the same period. Worse, prior to 2011, US trade was on a solid upward tra...

Foolishness of the week: 10:57 Main episode: 11:17 The USDA is experimenting with paying people to eat fruits and vegetables. That sounds like a good idea, but it opens the door to regulatory capture wherein companies lobby the USDA to have their products included in the program, and where manufacturers add just enough ingredients to call their formerly-fruit-and-vegetable-free product a “fruit” o...

Dr. Samuel Gregg joins us to talk about his latest book, The Next American Economy, in which he describes emerging problems and potential solutions to America’s slow movement away from freedom.   Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www...

A year ago, Mikhail Rasner joined us to talk about shortages and supply chains. A year later, he’s back to talk about what’s happened, both expected and unexpected, and where he sees the economy going in the near future. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbe...

This week, we answer listener questions about the ratchet effect, how to disagree civilly, and who our dream guest would be. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberal...

This week, we answer listener questions about unfunded liabilities, different types of rights, what would happen if the Supreme Court overturned the broad interpretation of the commerce clause, and statistical versus practical significance Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support fo...