Ideas Having Sex: Recent Episodes
Chris Kaufman
Walker Hanlon explains the rise and fall of small government in Britain.
Today’s Book: The Laissez-Faire Experiment: Why Britain Embraced and Then Abandoned Small Government, 1800–1914
Michael Huemer explains and challenges progressive claims.
Today’s book: Progressive Myths
Bryan Caplan extols the virtues of self help.
Today’s book: Self-Help Is Like a Vaccine: Essays on Living Better
Sheldon Richman makes the case for human freedom.
Today's Book: What Social Animals Owe to Each Other
John Hasnas describes the virtue and the beauty of the common law.
Today's Book: Common Law Liberalism: A New Theory of the Libertarian Society
Johan Norberg advocates radical economic freedom.
Today's Book: The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World by Johan Norberg
James Otteson claims that businesses behave honorably by creating mutually beneficial, and mutually voluntary deals.
Today's book: Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society
Bryan Caplan explains why housing costs are so high.
Today's book: Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation
Chris Coyne gives a master class in how to energize a population for war.
Today's book: How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite by Christopher Coyne & Abigail Hall
Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley explain how population growth INCREASES resource abundance.
Today’s book: Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet
Michael Huemer claims he is not a brain in a vat.
Today’s book: Can We Know Anything? A Debate
by Bryan Frances & Michael Huemer
Chandran Kukathas explains the threat immigration control poses to the freedom of citizens.
Today’s Book: Immigration and Freedom
Jason Brennan describes historical and contemporary debates on democracy.
Today’s Book: Democracy: A Guided Tour, by Jason Brennan
David Friedman talks about libertarian anarchism.
Today’s book: The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism
David Lawrence argues that free will has flaws, but determinism has more.
Today’s book: Debunking Determinism: Robert Sapolsky, Sam Harris, and the Crusade Against Free Will
Bryan Caplan extols the virtues candor and authenticity.
Today’s book: You Will Not Stampede Me: Essays on Non-Conformism
Max Borders claims we don’t take “consent of the governed” seriously, but we should.
Books by Max Borders
James Tooley shows how the world’s poorest people educate their children without government.
Today’s Book: Really Good Schools: Global Lessons for High-Caliber, Low-Cost Education, by James Tooley
Maarten Prak shows how capitalism developed from the bottom up.
Today’s Book: Pioneers of Capitalism: The Netherlands 1000–1800, by Maarten Prak & Jan Luiten van Zanden
David Beito exposes the many civil liberties abuses of FDR.
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Today’s book: The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance by David Beito
Sean Mirski reviews the causes and consequences of early US foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere.
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Today’s book: We May Dominate the World: Ambition, Anxiety, and the Rise of the American Colossus by Sean Mirski
David Schmidtz discusses the inseparability of successful communities and successful lives.
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Today’s Book: Living Together: Inventing Moral Science
David’s university page & author page
Discussed and recommended: The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle; The Theory of Moral Sentiments by Adam Smith; A Treatise of Human Nature by David Hume; Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View by Immanuel Kant; Honorable Business: A Framework for Business in a Just and Humane Society by James Otteson;
Rachel Ferguson and Marcus Witcher explain how black Americans have been held down by the state and lifted up by the market.
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Today’s book: Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America
Rachel Ferguson: Twitter, website,
Marcus Witcher: Twitter
Discussed and Recommended
The Poverty of Slavery: How Unfree Labor Pollutes the Economy
Financial Exclusion: How Competition Can Fix a Broken System
The Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America's Poor
Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American economy 1865-1914
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America
The Black Boom
Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It
Michael Huemer talks about puzzles and insights in the study of knowledge.
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Today’s book: Understanding Knowledge
Discussed and recommended: Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume, and The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Mike’s blog, author page, and website
James Otteson argues against wealth redistribution.
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Today’s book: Should Wealth Be Redistributed? A Debate
James’s website, Twitter, author page, university page.
Recommended and discussed: From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967 by David Beito; Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of America by Rachel Ferguson & Marcus Witcher; The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths by Mariana Mazzucato; & The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century by Walter Scheidel
Deirdre McCloskey explains how freedom and bourgeoise dignity enriched the world.
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The Bourgeoise Era Trilogy
Vol. 1 - The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce
Vol. 2 - Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World
Vol. 3 - Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World
Shorter summary volume: Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, by Deirdre McCloskey & Art Carden
Discussed and Recommended: Four Essays on Liberty by Isaiah Berlin; The Conservative Sensibility by George Will; Kathleen Stock & Deirdre McCloskey Debate Issues of Sex, Gender, & Identity
Professor McCloskey’s email, website, Twitter, & author page
Bryan Caplan discusses political irrationality, partisan loyalty, and more.
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Today’s book: Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political Irrationality
Bryan’s recommendations: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction & Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? both by Philip Tetlock
Bryan’s Twitter, Author Page, Substack, and personal website.
Peter Boghossian talks about wokeness, scholarly corruption, and how to have impossible conversations.
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Find Peter on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, and his website.
The Reformers, Part 1: Explores the Sokal Squared Hoax, aka the Grievance Studies Affair
How to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide, by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay
The Gift of Violence: Practical Knowledge for Surviving and Thriving in a Dangerous World, by Matt Thornton
Woman expresses fear of backlash for agreeing with Billboard Chris
Matt Zwolinski reviews 200 years of libertarian intellectual history.
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Today’s book: The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism
Find Matt on Twitter and Substack.
Matt’s Recommendations:
The Elements of Justice by David Schmidtz
The Structure of Liberty by Randy Barnett
Individualism and Economic Order by F.A. Hayek
Free Market Fairness by John Tomasi
Libertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know by Jason Brennan
Radicals for Capitalism by Brian Doherty
The Debates of Liberty by Wendy McElroy
Dan Moller makes a novel case for libertarianism.
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Today’s book: Governing Least: A New England Libertarianism
William Nelson describes how the common law shaped early America.
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Today’s Book: E Pluribus Unum: How the Common Law Helped Unify and Liberate Colonial America, 1607-1776
William Nelson’s Recommendation: Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution by Gordon Wood
Other works by William Nelson
Fernanda Pirie shares her encyclopedic knowledge of law throughout history and around the world.
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Today’s book: The Rule of Laws: A 4,000-Year Quest to Order the World
Find Fernanda Pirie: Author Page, Oxford, Twitter
Recommended book: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
Robert Bryce explains how important electricity is to modern life.
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Today’s Book: A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of Nations
Find Robert Bryce: Twitter, Author Page, Substack, Power Hungry Podcast
Recommended Works: How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil, Renewable and Nuclear Heresies by Jesse Ausubel
Tibor Rutar analyzes the costs and benefits of capitalism using a straightforward and empirical framework.
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Today’s book: Capitalism for Realists: Virtues and Vices of the Modern Economy
Recommended and Discussed Books: Social Democratic Capitalism; Would Democratic Socialism Be Better?; In Defense of Openness: Why Global Freedom Is the Humane Solution to Global Poverty
Mike Rinder talks Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, and his own role in the highest ranks of the church.
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Mike Rinder’s book: A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology
Mike’s blog, Twitter, and YouTube
Mike’s recommendations: The Sociopath Next Door, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology, Counterfeit Dreams, Bare-Faced Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard, and Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
If you are seeking help leaving Scientology: The Aftermath Foundation
Jonathan Rauch describes the social norms and institutions that generate knowledge.
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Today’s book: The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth
Jonathan’s website, Twitter, and author page.
Braver Angels
Recommended works: The Logic of Scientific Discovery and The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper; The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt; Politics and the English language by George Orwell; Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama; HATE by Nadine Strossen
Jason Brennan argues for less democracy and less politics.
Today’s Book: Debating Democracy: Do We Need More or Less?
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Other books by Jason
Jason’s upcoming book: Democracy: A Guided Tour
Other discussed works: Uncivil Agreement; Democracy for Realists; Neither Liberal nor Conservative; The Case Against Education; I, Pencil
Jonathan Katz describes the economic motivations behind US interventions around the world.
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Today’s book: Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire
Jonathan Katz’s blog & Twitter
Jonathan Katz’s recommendations: Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump; and The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
Other books discussed: War is a Racket, by Smedley Butler; Overthrow; and The True Flag
Topics: Haiti, China, Boxer Rebellion, revolution, war, business plot, coup
Michael Huemer makes the case that governments have no legitimate authority.
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Today’s book: Is Political Authority an Illusion? (Little Debates about Big Questions)
Michael Huemer’s recommendation: The Problem of Political Authority
Other books by Huemer
Mike’s web presence: Fake Noûs Blog, Personal Website, University Website
Other discussed books: The Property Species: Mine, Yours, and the Human Mind by Bart J. Wilson, and The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century by Walter Scheidel
Paul Sherman explains how occupational licensing often violates the First Amendment.
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Today’s article: Occupational Speech and the First Amendment by Paul Sherman, as well as Paul’s recommendation: Professional Speech and the First Amendment by Rodney Smolla
The Institute for Justice
Liberty and Law articles
Short Circuit Newsletter
Follow @PaulMSherman on Twitter.
Topics: First Amendment, freedom of speech, free expression, law, supreme court, Edward Snowden, Fourth Amendment, privacy, civil asset forfeiture, qualified immunity, police brutality, constitution, civil rights
Chris Coyne lays out a powerful critique of American foreign policy.
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Today’s book: In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace
Chris Coyne’s twitter and website.
Chris Coyne’s recommendations: Political Capitalism: How Economic and Political Power Is Made and Maintained, by Randall G. Holcombe; Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Robert Higgs; books by Andrew J. Bacevich, as well as Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Gore Vidal.
Matt Ridley describes the processes and preconditions of innovation.
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Today’s book: How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom.
More books by Matt.
Matt’s twitter and website.
Matt’s recommendations: Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, and The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous
Matt’s Ted Talk: When Ideas Have Sex.
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita presents a novel explanation for western exceptionalism.
Today's book: The Invention of Power: Popes Kings, and the Birth of the West
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Other works by Bruce
Contact Bruce: bruce.buenodemesquita@nyu.edu
Bruce’s recommended reading: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, by Max Weber, and The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous, by Joseph Henrich
Economic growth, Catholicism, religion, church and state, democracy, revolution, politics, Trump
Lauren Hall explains how governments cause birth and death to become over medicalized.
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Today’s book: The Medicalization of Birth and Death
Also by Lauren Hall: Family and the Politics of Moderation: Private Life, Public Goods, and the Rebirth of Social Individualism
Learn more about Lauren Hall
Lauren’s recommendations: The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry, And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life, Cut It Out: The C-Section Epidemic in America
How Doctors Die
Medicine, healthcare, regulation, certificate of need law, American Medical Association, c-section, hospice, palliative care, over treatment
Bryan Caplan discusses feminism, social justice, colonialism, and more.
Today’s book: Don't Be a Feminist: Essays on Genuine Justice
Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitter
Bryan's twitter
Bryan's blog
Other books by Bryan
Bryan’s recommendation: Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say
Elizabeth Nolan Brown claims sex trafficking numbers are wildly inflated.
Follow @IdeasHavingSexx and Elizabeth Nolan Brown on twitter.
Today’s articles: The War on Sex Trafficking Is the New War on Drugs, Massage Parlor Panic
Feminists for Liberty
Reason Magazine’s "Reason Roundup"
The Feminist War on Crime
Individualist Feminism: The Lost Tradition
Stephen Kinzer describes the CIA’s morally dubious search for mind control.
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Today’s book: Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control
Other books by Stephen Kinzer
Follow @StephenKinzer on twitter
Stephen’s website
Topics: CIA, MKUltra, mind control, Nazis, science, Cold War, torture, assassination, medical experiments, Imperial Japan, Soviet Union
Michael Huemer tells us why justice should be the central value of the justice system.
Today’s book: Justice Before the Law
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Mike’s blog Fake Nous
Mike’s website
Other books by Mike
Topics: justice system, prison, plea bargaining, jury nullification, punishment, war on drugs, immigration, courts, torture
Mark Koyama explains the historical origins of sustained economic growth.
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Today’s book: How the World Became Rich
Mark’s website & twitter
Coauthor Jared Rubin’s twitter
Other Books Discussed
The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective
The Enlightened Economy
Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity
The WEIRDest People in the World
Guns, Germs, and Steel
David Beito joins me to discuss the life of doctor, entrepreneur, and civil rights pioneer TRM Howard.
Today’s book: T. R. M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, Civil Rights Pioneer
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Other books by David Beito
Independent Institute
Zora Neale Hurston Article
From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State
Women of the Movement
FDR's War Against the Press
Topics: abortion, poverty, civil rights, black leaders, mutual aid, hunting, Roe vs Wade, racism, FBI, Mississippi
James Otteson joins me to correct popular economic fallacies.
Today’s book: Seven Deadly Economic Sins
Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter
Professor Otteson’s website & twitter
Other books by James Otteson
Other books discussed in the episode: How Innovation Works, The Great Leveler, The Bourgeois Virtues, & Economics in One Lesson
John Mueller discusses the wisdom of complacency in the face of exaggerated international threats.
Today’s Book: The Stupidity of War
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Psychology of a Superpower by Chris Fettweis
Other Books by John Mueller
John's Work at CATO
Responsible Statecraft
Michael Huemer describes big ideas in philosophy, including some of his own.
Today’s Book: Knowledge, Reality, and Value
Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter
Mike’s website
Mike’s blog: Fake Nous
The Right and the Good by David Ross
Other books by Michael Huemer
Kristian Niemietz explains how the allure of socialism never seems to die, despite its many failures.
Today’s book: Socialism: The Failed Idea That Never Dies
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Follow Kristian Niemietz on Twitter
Institute of Economic Affairs
Political Pilgrims by Paul Hollander
Bryan Caplan discusses the many ways demagogues manipulate their way to the top.
Today’s book: How Evil Are Politicians?
Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter
Bryan’s blog
Discussed and Recommended Books:
A History of Fascism
Hitler Speaks
World Communism
Expert Political Judgement
Superforcasting
The Problem of Political Authority
The Stupidity of War
Mein Kampf
David Skarbek describes the formal and informal governance structures in prisons around the world.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube
Today’s book: The Puzzle of Prison Order
Other Links
The Social Order of the Underworld
David’s Twitter
David’s Website
David Friedman describes the legal systems of societies throughout history and around the globe.
Chris Kaufman on Twitter: @IdeasHavingSexx
Today's Book: Legal Systems Very Different from Ours
Other things discussed in the episode:
David's Website
David's Blog
The Machinery of Freedom
Law's Order
Friedman vs Block on Austrian vs Chicago Econ
Man, Economy, and State
Robert Murphy Responds to David
Astral Codex Ten (Formerly Slate Star Codex)
Bart Wilson tells us why property is a universal and uniquely human custom, and why all of those words are important.
Chris Kaufman on Twitter @IdeasHavingSexx
Bart Wilson on Twitter @BartWilson
Book: The Property Species: Mine, Yours, and the Human Mind
Book: Humanomics
Book: Imprisoned in English
Book: English - Meaning and Culture
@IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter
Book: The Elephant in the Brain
Book: The Age of Em
New Project: Grabby Aliens
Blog: Overcoming Bias
@IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter
Today’s Episode: Labor Econ Versus the World
Other Books: Open Borders, The Case Against Education, The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids
Blogs: EconLog, Bet On It
