Marginal Revolutionaries

Alex Tabarrok, perhaps the world’s sole Canadian libertarian, joins The Remnant today for the first time. Inflation ...

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Alex Tabarrok, perhaps the world’s sole Canadian libertarian, joins The Remnant today for the first time. Inflation is on the rise, the vaccine rollout is stalling, and illiberalism is resurgent. In other words, there are plenty of demanding issues for Americans to be concerned about. Thankfully, Tabarrok has a range of considered policy solutions for Jonah to explore. How can we revitalize democracy? Would open borders work? And should we abandon advanced civilization now before the machines destroy us all?

Show Notes:

–Alex’s website

–“Inflation, no chance …”

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  1. Trumeau

    I think that Alex Tabarrok opinion that all immigrants in the US just have a strong love affair with the country is at best extremely optimistic. There are many migrants who come in this country for all kinds of reasons and it’s not because America is this unique place. The clearest case in my mind is Ilhan Omar. She was a refugee who has become a pretty successful person in the US and yet she keeps complaining about how America sucks.

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    Sad Trombone

    I think your guest has far too rosy a view of how gung ho on America a lot of recent immigrants are. While his optimism may be warranted about entrepreneurial migrants, the refugee resettlement industrial complex is bringing in many with sour views once they arrive. Congresswoman Omar may be the most prominent, but MEMRI has many examples. Ask Andy McCarthy at NR or read the "Minnesota Men" series from Powerline a few years back.

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  3. Tony Reiter

    He lost me for a bit with the cyborg stuff, but even when I disagree with the guests, they are interesting and I learn something new, I had not previously heard the Baumol effect and that was intriguing to say the least.

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    Kevin Townsley

    Is it just me on Radio Publica, but does the audio keep jumping like there were some editing error?

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    Belt

    I kinda wish that all these libertarians would be put in charge of a small country someplace just we time how long it takes for the angry mobs to arise and chase them out.

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  6. Tom Coffman

    Enjoyed the podcast. Marginal Revolution is a wonderful blog. I fully expect libertarian to object to homeowners associations (HOA), yet I wonder how many make the free choice to buy a home and live in a home with an established HOA? Do they imagine coercion was involved with the decision to purchase and live? Are they not free to choose another neighborhood?

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    Jason Gibson

    *walks into car dealership*

    “Excuse me I’d like to by a red car today”

    *in the next cubicle mr goldberg overhears this and and creates a new timeline in which the variant Jonah begins a new career of statism that makes the nine realms tremble*

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    Tracie

    The point that stuck with me is how encouraging identity politics inevitably promotes white identity as a thing.

    Classifying other people, or one's self, according to a single facet has always been lazy and cheap. We do it cuz it's easy. No other reason comes to my tired mind.

    Night ya'll.

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    Alexander Spalding

    Ok, this is definitely a feeling, if someone has data, please let me know. I was listening to the explanation of the quartet and thinking, "hey, this makes a lot of sense." Then I thought, "wait a minute, is this example even factually correct?"

    200 years ago going to the symphony was an ordeal. Concert hall were extravagant, attendance was reserved for the wealthy, and the attire was extremely formal. Today, I can watch a symphony for free in the park while wearing shorts.

    And, if life has taught me anything, it's that things I have to wear pants to do are more expensive than things that allow shorts.

    Is a quartet actually more expensive today? It seems a heck of a lot cheaper.

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    Dave

    I think the key to immigration comes down to a couple of key principles:
    • Property rights
    • Freedom of association
    • Voluntary exchange
    • Pursuit of happiness

    Immigration restriction intrude on each of those areas — not only for the would-be immigrants, but for those of us who would like to socialize with, worship with, and engage in commerce with them, as well as the pursuit of happiness of the immigrant himself.

    Where I have strong disagreement with Jonah in speaking of the US as a club that determines its members is that he’s effectively wanting to decide for others those areas.

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