Monetized Jackassery

Cato Institute economist Ryan Bourne joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss his ...

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Cato Institute economist Ryan Bourne joins The Remnant for the first time to discuss his new book, Economics in One Virus, which offers a crash course in economics using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. Over the last two years, many questions have been raised about America’s preparedness (or lack thereof) for the pandemic, and Ryan has answers. Did any country get COVID right? Why is testing still a mess? And is the libertarian movement as divided as the conservative movement?

Show Notes:

– Ryan’s page at Cato

– Ryan’s new book, Economics in One Virus

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  1. DRHanson

    The anecdote about John Nestor insisting he had a right to drive 55 in the left lane regardless of the flow of traffic is a good example of one of the least-known traffic laws in almost every state. A lot of people believe that they have a right to drive in the lane of their choice if they are driving at or below the speed limit. However, almost all states have a "keep right" law that requires drivers to, at minimum, yield the left lane when they are overtaken by faster vehicles, even if the faster vehicle is traveling above the speed limit. In fact, many states explicitly designate the far left lane as the "passing lane," which is only to be used when passing slower traffic or preparing to turn left -- again, regardless of the legal speed limit. Most states follow the Uniform Vehicle Code which requires drivers to stay on the right if they are driving slower than the normal speed of traffic, even if that normal speed is above the speed limit. I don't know what the laws of Maryland or Virginia were at the time of the John Nestor incident, but currently both states require slower drivers to yield the left lane and move to the right when overtaken by faster vehicles, regardless of the speed of the faster vehicles. These "keep right" laws exist because the evidence shows they reduce accidents on the highways. Nestor may have thought he was improving highway safety by forcing the cars behind him to remain at 55 mph, but he was actually making the highway less safe.

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    AC Kansas

    I take issue where are the beginning of the pod Ryan says the Imperial College estimate of 1-2 million US deaths "wasn't that far off". All the deaths are tragic, not minimizing anything, but we haven't reached a million deaths (thankfully) in the US at this time, so he's off by roughly 100K at best ad 1 million at worst! That's a horrible range.

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    Bill Nelson

    This was one of the best yet, COVID be damned.

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    Ben Connelly

    What a great interview. I especially liked the discussion of the schisms in the conservative movement and libertarianism. Although I did think to myself, “what do you mean unrealistic Libertarianism? Are you saying my plan to get rid of 10 of the more irrelevant of the 15 departments of the federal government (we’re looking at you, HUD, that’s right, Energy), overnight, is far-fetched?”

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    Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

    Con men have always prospered at fairs and carnivals, where there are large crowds of people eager for distractions. The internet has made the world a carnival.

    And objectively the worst exhibition therein is Twitter. Twitter delenda est.

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    Pastorfbt

    I cringe/love the story of the FDA official who proudly owns being a left lane bandit. He has kin here in MA, guaranteed.

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    CynthiaW

    Nice chat, darling little accent.

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      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      I think of such things in computer gaming/MMORPG terms. There is near universal agreement that a British accent is equivalent to a +10 buff to both charisma and intelligence. A French accent, by contrast, is +30 CHA but -10 INT.

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        CynthiaW

        I actually kind of understand that. All the teenbros play D&D and Magic and Smite and various games with those structures.

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    Eric

    The topic of IP protection w.r.t. life-saving drugs and tests is interesting to me. I'm curious what the libertarian take is on high Insulin prices. My understanding was that the high prices are mainly because IP protection around manufacturing methods keeps out industry newcomers who could bring lower prices. The progressive solution of price fixing seems to be getting a lot of traction in peoples minds, and I think they see it as an aperitif before the main course of a fully price-fixed healthcare system.

    So the sticky question is, do you think it is right to enact a policy that would help drive down the price of Insulin, and what might that policy look like? Is there any way to encourage lower prices for Insulin without killing the incentive for new drug research and development?

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  9. Mads Lindstrøm

    Do we really have to worry about incentives, if a major pandemic only comes around once a century?

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      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      The concern is that as the world becomes more interconnected, with not just goods but people traveling constantly hither and yon, we won't have multi-decade gaps between pandemics.

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    Jason Gibson

    Great pod. I’m glad to see the conventional wisdom is starting to creep over to where I am

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