Episodes
7 days ago
7 days ago
Sabine speaks with Ben Klutsey about political polarization, commonalities between the United States and Canada, and his documentary on the subject entitled "Undivide Us"
Episode Notes:
The documentary's website with more information, a trailer and the option to request a screening: https://undivideusmovie.com/
Kevin Vallier's "Trust in a Polarized Age":
John Inazu's "Learning To Disagree":
Kevin Vallier on the Curious Task:
https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-isuwy-d16f34
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Ep. 224: Rachael LaRose - What Happened To Our Relationships During The Pandemic?
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Wednesday Apr 10, 2024
Alex speaks with Rachael LaRose about the hidden costs of the pandemic, especially as they effected our commercial relationships, loose ties with individuals that once provided much value to our lives, and orthodox communities who rallied to prioritize faith in the face of fear.
Episode Notes:
- Rachael's webpage with past publications, etc.: https://www.rachaelbehr.com/
- "The Strength of Weak Ties" Mark S. Granovetter https://www.jstor.org/stable/2776392
- A summary of Ostrom's work on the governance of the commons: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2012/06/17/elinor-ostroms-work-on-governing-the-commons-an-appreciation/
- Rachael's coverage of the Orthodox Jewish community's healthcare action during the pandemic: https://www.econlib.org/library/columns/y2024/larosehealthcare.html
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
Ep. 223: Sam Bowman - Why Can't We Have Nice Things?
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
Wednesday Apr 03, 2024
Matt speaks with Sam Bowman about the global housing crisis and why, in English-speaking countries in particular, a growing consensus across the political divide is pointing to problems with central planning, NIMBYism and a supply limit as the causes.
Episode Notes:
- Sam Bowman’s on substack: https://substack.com/@sambowman
- Sam on "Vetocracy": https://www.sambowman.co/p/democracy-is-the-solution-to-vetocracy
- Sam’s “Housing Theory of Everything” article: https://worksinprogress.co/issue/the-housing-theory-of-everything/
- Works in Progress website: https://worksinprogress.co/
- Michael Giberson on Manser Olson's theory of concentrated costs and dispersed benefits: https://knowledgeproblem.com/2010/10/17/concentrated-benefits-and-dispersed-costs/
- Comparison of UK vs. US GDP per capita: https://countryeconomy.com/countries/compare/usa/uk
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Ep. 222: Akshaya Kamalnath - Does Corporate Diversity Work?
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Wednesday Mar 27, 2024
Alex speaks with Akshaya Kamalnath about her work on Corporate Diversity, the social pressures and cultural trends that corporations are facing, as well as the jurisdictional realities of handling diversity, amongst other issues.
Episode Notes:
Akshaya's page at ANU: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/kamalnath-a
Akshaya's blog:
corporatelawacademic.wordpress.com
"Legal and Market Initiatives to Increase Diversity in Corporations—A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis" by Akshaya Kamalnath
Wednesday Mar 20, 2024
Deirdre McCloskey - Why Does Liberalism Work?
Wednesday Mar 20, 2024
Wednesday Mar 20, 2024
In May 2022, Alex spoke with Deirdre McCloskey in a wide-ranging conversation that addresses the economic, philosophical, and political reasons why liberalism just works. We're reposting that important conversation today on The Curious Task.
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Ep. 221: Alex Nowrasteh - What's Wrong With Nationalism?
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Wednesday Mar 13, 2024
Alex speaks with Alex Nowrasteh about nationalism as more of an innate tendency towards ethnic tribalism than anything resembling patriotism, and how this tendency may never disappear, but is worth resisting nonetheless.
Episode Notes:
Alex's page at the Cato Insitute:
https://www.cato.org/people/alex-nowrasteh
Alex on X:
https://twitter.com/alexnowrasteh?lang=en
Alex's book "Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions":
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Ep. 220: Oyebade Oyerinde - Has Federalism Hurt Nigeria?
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Wednesday Mar 06, 2024
Alex speaks with Oyebade Oyerinde about the state of federalism in Nigeria, and how western ideas of democracy, liberalism and centralization of powers have influenced the current state of politics in the African nation.
Episode Notes:
"Polycentric Interstate Federalism Among The Yoruba Of Nigeria: Lessons For Growing An International Federal Order" by Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde https://cosmosandtaxis.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/kunleoyerinde_ct_vol10_iss11_12.pdf
"Polycentric and Centralized Federalism in Africa" (Chapter 3) by Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781666902716/Issues-of-Governance-Security-and-Development-in-Contemporary-Africa
"Does Polycentric Order Make Sense?" by Oyebade Kunle Oyerinde https://isonomiaquarterly.com/archive/volume-2-issue-1/disorder-in-west-africa-does-polycentric-order-make-sense/
"Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems" By Elinor Ostrom https://web.pdx.edu/~nwallace/EHP/OstromPolyGov.pdf
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Ep. 219: Jason Kuznicki - What Does Technology Have To Do With Gender?
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Wednesday Feb 28, 2024
Sabine speaks with Jason Kuznicki about the present, past, and future influence of technology on gender and why he questions the uproar made about a choice made by individuals in the market about their own self-expression and identity.
Episode Notes:
Jason's article "Gender as Essence and as Economic Choice" http://tinyurl.com/2p9byb5d
The Cosmos + Taxis issue on gender: http://tinyurl.com/2p9byb5d
Jason's newsletter "Pacification": http://tinyurl.com/yeycjzj
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Ep. 218: Marian Tupy - Are We Better Off Than Before?
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Wednesday Feb 21, 2024
Alex speaks with Marian Tupy about the notion that human progress has increased quality of life worldwide for centuries, making today the greatest time to be alive in the history of human life (in spite of what you may have heard elsewhere).
Episode Notes:
- Marian's book "Superabundance: The Story of Population Growth, Innovation, and Human Flourishing on an Infinitely Bountiful Planet" on Amazon Canada: https://a.co/d/boeFBP3
- Marian's profile and bio on the FEE website: https://fee.org/people/marian-l-tupy/
- An article breaking down the Malthusian thinking in the Avengers movie referenced by Marian https://carnegiemnh.org/defeating-thanos-and-his-malthusian-mission-of-population-control/
- A Youtube video giving some history and context for the Simon - Ehrlich bet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw2mn40BVo0
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Ep. 217: Aeon Skoble - How Is Limiting Access to Information Harmful?
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Wednesday Feb 14, 2024
Sabine speaks with Aeon Skoble about the harms of limiting access to information, including book bans and why a better understanding of ideas we disagree with often strengthens rather than weakens our arguments in support of the ideas we endorse.
Episode Notes:
- “Free Speech and the Function of a University” Aeon J. Skoble https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2081&context=br_rev
- A brief history of Hume’s works being banned: https://oll.libertyfund.org/publications/reading-room/2023-10-25-donway-hume-great-work-on-religion-banned
- A handy breakdown from the University of Notre Dame on J.S. Mill’s case for disagreement and free speech in “On Liberty”: https://philife.nd.edu/j-s-mills-on-liberty-seek-disagreement/
- Jacob Mchangama’s book “Free Speech: A History From Socrates to Social Media” https://a.co/d/8lcEV6a
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Ep. 216: Eric Schliesser - Is Post-Liberalism Already Here?
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Wednesday Feb 07, 2024
Alex speaks with Eric Schliesser about the growing declarations of the end of liberalism and what this means for the socio-political future in general.
Episode Notes:
- Eric Schliesser’s page at the University of Amsterdam https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/s/c/e.s.schliesser/e.s.schliesser.html#Publications
- Kevin Vallier’s episode of this podcast discussing religious anti-liberalism: https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/197-kevin-vallier-what-are-the-new-religious-threats-to-liberalism/
- Adrian Vermeulen’s publications https://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/adrian-vermeule/
- Tom Pink’s page at King’s College London: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pink
- Yoram Hazony’s book on conservatism: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/thomas-pink
- Jacob Levy on borders and liberalism: https://www.niskanencenter.org/law-and-border/
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Ep. 215: Akiva Malamet and Mikayla Novak - How Do Markets Influence Gender?
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Wednesday Jan 31, 2024
Sabine speaks with Akiva Malamet and Mikayla Novak about the effects of market forces on gender as a social construct, the unlikely pairing of free markets and gender in an age of socialist feminist theory, and their recent co-authored article in Cosmos + Taxis.
Episode Notes:
"Gender as a Discovery Process: Social Construction, Markets, and Gender" Akiva Malamet and Mikayla Novak https://cosmosandtaxis.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/malamet_novak_ct_vol11_iss11_12_epub.pdf
Randall Holcombe on Spontaneous Order:
https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095212458270
David Pozen "We Are All Entrepreneurs Now":
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1044021
Immanuel Kant first introduces the concepts of "phenomena" and "noumena" in his critical philosophy, particularly in his work titled "Critique of Pure Reason" (Kritik der reinen Vernunft), which was first published in 1781.
Isreal Kirzner on Entrepreneurship:
https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Kirzner.html
Jason Kuznicki "Human, Transhuman, Transgender.":
https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/human-transhuman-transgender
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Ep. 214: Ryan Thorpe - Is Journalism In Trouble?
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Wednesday Jan 24, 2024
Sabine Speaks with Ryan Thorpe about the state of Journalism in Canada and about how bills C-18, C-11 and government subsidies for journalism are compromising an industry necessary for democratic participation in an age when accountability is more important than ever.
Episode Notes:
Ryan's page on the Winnipeg Free Press website: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/biographies/ryan-thorpe
A primer on Canada's Bill C-18: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/understanding-bill-c-18-canada-s-online-news-act-and-its-proposed-rules-explained-1.6488532
Canadaland's statement regarding denial of government subsidies: https://www.canadaland.com/how-to-support-canadaland/
A legal perspective on Bill C-11: https://www.lexpert.ca/legal-insights/exploring-the-controversy-around-bill-c-11/380414
Sy Hersh's C-SPAN speech describing how he exposed the My Lai massacre: https://www.c-span.org/video/?62006-1/vietnam-war-lai-massacre
Torstar losing approximately 50 million dollars a year: http://surl.li/pqchw
Blacklocks reporter on the memo to Pablo Rodriguez demonstrating the failure of public subsidies to Canadian media: https://www.blacklocks.ca/media-bailout-failed-memo/
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Ep. 213: Tyler Cowen - Who Is The Greatest Economist Of All Time?
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Wednesday Jan 17, 2024
Matt speaks with Tyler Cowen about his recent book "GOAT:
Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time and Why Does it Matter?", as they discuss the case for and against each of the top finalists, and the interactive AI features that Tyler has integrated into the book's online release.
Episode Notes:
The full book plus all interactive AI features can be found for free here: https://goatgreatesteconomistofalltime.ai/en
Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Ep. 212: Matthew Mitchell and Peter Boettke - What Can We Learn From Estonia?
Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Wednesday Jan 10, 2024
Alex speaks with Peter Boettke and Matthew Mitchell about their recent book co-authored with Konstantin Zhukov about the unusual rise of Estonia from the ashes of Stalinism to their current status as one of the freest nations on earth.
Episode Notes:
The conversation focusses on the book "Road To Freedom" which can be read in its entirety here: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/road-to-freedom-estonias-rise-from-soviet-vassal-state-to-one-of-the-freest-nations-on-earth_0.pdf
A similar publication on the economic history of Poland by these same authors can be read in its entirety here: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/road-to-socialism-and-back-an-economic-history-of-poland-1939-2019.pdf
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Ep. 211: Nick Cowen - Is Public Ignorance A Problem?
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Wednesday Jan 03, 2024
Alex speaks with Nick Cowen about democracy, markets, and his forthcoming article "Include The Ignorant"
Episode Notes:
- Jason Brennan "Against Democracy" https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691178493/against-democracy
- On the Compatibility of Epistocracy and Public Reason
by Thomas Mulligan https://www.jstor.org/stable/24575740
- Hayek on Limited Democracy, Dictatorships, and the ‘Free’ Market: An Interview in Argentina, 1977
"Birsen Filip" https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91358-2_10
Wednesday Dec 27, 2023
Ep. 210: Mike Munger - Can Classical Liberalism Be Saved?
Wednesday Dec 27, 2023
Wednesday Dec 27, 2023
Alex speaks with Mike Munger about the state of classical liberalism in an era in which conservatism seems intent on wielding the tools of central planning and the left prefers the term "progressive" to "liberal".
Episode Notes:
The Classical Liberal Diaspora by Mike Munger: https://t.co/xoRnPIUXXi
The Articles of Confederation: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Articles-of-Confederation
Preamble to the United States constitution: https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/us
Fusionism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusionism
Albert Jay Nock and The Remnant: https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job
Chile rewriting its constitution: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chilean-congressional-council-finalizes-new-draft-constitution-again-2023-10-30/
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Ep. 209: Lauren Hall - Is Gender An Emergent Order?
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Wednesday Dec 20, 2023
Sabine speaks with Lauren K Hall, who defends the notion that feminism is an emergent order, and speaks about her recent special edition of Cosmos+Taxis.
Episode Notes:
All articles in the most recent edition of Cosmos+Taxis are linked here:
https://cosmosandtaxis.org/current-issue/
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy "The Woman That Never Evolved":
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1khdr6b
Kimberle Crenshaw "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex:
A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination
Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics":
https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Ep. 208: Clara Piano - Does Greater Economic Freedom Lead To More Babies?
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Wednesday Dec 13, 2023
Matt speaks with Clara Piano about the relationship between economic freedom, fertility, and the roles that modernization and increasing well-being for women have on the number of babies that are born in countries around the world.
Episode Notes:
"The Fertility Gap and Economic Freedom" by Clara Piano & Lyman Stone https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4564080
"The Fertility Benefits of Economic Freedom" by Clara E. Piano https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-fertility-benefits-of-economic-freedom
"The Best Policy for Supporting Families Is “Do No Harm”" by Clara E. Piano https://www.aier.org/article/the-best-policy-for-supporting-families-is-do-no-harm/
Some history on "The Population Bomb" https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/book-incited-worldwide-fear-overpopulation-180967499/
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Ep. 207: Sarah Skwire - Why Should Liberals Read Shakespeare?
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Wednesday Dec 06, 2023
Sabine speaks with Sarah Skwire about the fascinating world of Shakespeare and why there are so many lessons we can learn from a pre-enlightenment playwright about markets, politics, and the human condition.
Episode Notes:
- Mike Huemer's Post on Shakespeare: https://fakenous.substack.com/p/why-i-hate-shakespeare
- "The Comedy of The Errors" https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-comedy-of-errors/read/#:~:text=Synopsis%3A,named%20Dromio%2C%20as%20their%20servants.
- Sarah on Shakespeare and Immigration: https://fee.org/articles/even-shakespeare-knew-that-kicking-out-immigrants-harms-us-all/
- Adam Smith on Human Sympathy: https://www.adamsmithworks.org/documents/smith-on-sympathy-lauren-hall-12-1
- Summary of Shakespeare's "Sir Thomas More": https://nosweatshakespeare.com/sir-thomas-more-play/
- Adam Smith's misrecollection of Othello https://www.adamsmithworks.org/speakings/skwire-smith-shakespeare-slips-end-of-othello
- Intro to "Measure for Measure": https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/measure-for-measure/
- Commentary on the Political Theology of First Samuel: https://www.theologyofwork.org/old-testament/samuel-kings-chronicles-and-work/from-tribal-confederation-to-monarchy-1-samuel/