Dissenters are arrested, comedians are forced to apologise, online mobs are on the rampage. The incentives are aligned towards shutting up. Amit Varma and Vivek Kaul get together in episode 5 of Econ Central to talk about the economics of the chilling effect. Also discussed: the significance of Amitabh Bachchan getting Covid, and the dangers of dead capital.

Also check out: 1. Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly and EL Doctorow on Amazon.
2. Poet And Former Lecturer Varavara Rao Dying In Jail -- Priya Ramani.
3. What Happened to Our Journalism? -- Episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nidhi Razdan).
4. Internet Hindus and Madrasa Muslims -- Amit Varma (on group polarization).
5. You're From the Mutton Lobby -- Transcript of episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo episode on political discourse).
6. Stop Firing the Innocent -- Yascha Mounk.
7. Bari Weiss's resignation letter from the New York Times.
8. Choice and Consequence -- Thomas C Schelling.
9. Misbehaving -- Richard Thaler.
10. Micromotives and Macrobehaviour -- Thomas C Schelling.
11. Helmet Safety Commercial with Coconut.
12. Cigarette in My Hand -- Gary Lawyer's anti-smoking commercial.
13. Homeopathic Faith -- Amit Varma.
14. The Mystery of Capital -- Hernando de Soto.
15. India Awakes -- The full documentary on YouTube.
16. The Right to Property -- Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
17. India's Agriculture Crisis -- Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
18. FSI in India -- Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
19. Twelve Dream Reforms -- Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul).
20. Basic Economics -- Thomas Sowell.
21. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen -- Frédéric Bastiat.
22. Thomas Sowell & Frédéric Bastiat on Amazon.
23. Economics in One Lesson -- Henry Hazlitt.
24. Beware of the Useful Idiots -- Amit Varma.
25. How to Speak Money -- John Lanchester.
26. Whoops! -- John Lanchester.
27. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality -- Amit Varma.
28. Marginal Revolution University.

You can show your appreciation by buying us coffee or a book here. Do pick up Vivek’s books, India’s Big Government and Bad Money. And check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing.