Ideas Having Sex

Bryan Cheang argues that industrial policy is authoritarian.Today's book: Economic Liberalism and the Developmental State: Hong Kong and Singapore's Post-war DevelopmentToday's essay: “Why mission-directed governance risks authoritarianism: lessons from East Asia”Bryan Cheang's email: bryan.cheang@kcl.ac.uk

Bart Wilson on how to make economics more human.

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 Debateby 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. Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexxToday's Book: Living Together: Inventing Moral ScienceDavid's university page & author pageDiscussed 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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Black Liberation Through the Marketplace: Hope, Heartbreak, and the Promise of AmericaRachel Ferguson: Twitter, website, Marcus Witcher: TwitterDiscussed and RecommendedThe Poverty of Slavery: How Unfree Labor Pollutes the Economy Financial Exclusion: How Competition Can Fix a Broken SystemThe Inclusive Economy: How to Bring Wealth to America's PoorCompetition and Coercion: Blacks in the American economy 1865-1914The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated AmericaThe Black BoomArbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It

Michael Huemer talks about puzzles and insights in the study of knowledge.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on TwitterToday'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 RussellMike's blog, author page, and website

James Otteson argues against wealth redistribution.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Should Wealth Be Redistributed? A DebateJames'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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on TwitterThe Bourgeoise Era Trilogy Vol. 1 - The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of CommerceVol. 2 - Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern WorldVol. 3 - Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the WorldShorter summary volume: Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, by Deirdre McCloskey & Art CardenDiscussed and Recommended: Four Essays on Liberty by Isaiah Berlin; The Conservative Sensibility by George Will; Kathleen Stock & Deirdre McCloskey Debate Issues of Sex, Gender, & IdentityProfessor McCloskey's email, website, Twitter, & author page

Bryan Caplan discusses political irrationality, partisan loyalty, and more.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Voters as Mad Scientists: Essays on Political IrrationalityBryan's recommendations: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction & Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know? both by Philip TetlockBryan's Twitter, Author Page, Substack, and personal website.

Peter Boghossian talks about wokeness, scholarly corruption, and how to have impossible conversations. Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Find Peter on Twitter, YouTube, Substack, and his website.The Reformers, Part 1: Explores the Sokal Squared Hoax, aka the Grievance Studies AffairHow to Have Impossible Conversations: A Very Practical Guide, by Peter Boghossian and James LindsayThe Gift of Violence: Practical Knowledge for Surviving and Thriving in a Dangerous World, by Matt ThorntonWoman expresses fear of backlash for agreeing with Billboard Chris

Matt Zwolinski reviews 200 years of libertarian intellectual history.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of LibertarianismFind Matt on Twitter and Substack.Matt's Recommendations: The Elements of Justice by David SchmidtzThe Structure of Liberty by Randy BarnettIndividualism and Economic Order by F.A. HayekFree Market Fairness by John TomasiLibertarianism: What Everyone Needs to Know by Jason BrennanRadicals for Capitalism by Brian DohertyThe Debates of Liberty by Wendy McElroy

Dan Moller makes a novel case for libertarianism. Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Governing Least: A New England LibertarianismDan's new book, The Way of Bach, and other info can be found at his website.Dan's recommendations: Anarchy, State, and Utopia, A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World, and The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality

William Nelson describes how the common law shaped early America.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's Book: E Pluribus Unum: How the Common Law Helped Unify and Liberate Colonial America, 1607-1776William Nelson's Recommendation: Power and Liberty: Constitutionalism in the American Revolution by Gordon WoodOther works by William Nelson

Fernanda Pirie shares her encyclopedic knowledge of law throughout history and around the world. Follow @IdeasHaving Sexx on Twitter.Today's book: The Rule of Laws: A 4,000-Year Quest to Order the WorldFind Fernanda Pirie: Author Page, Oxford, TwitterRecommended book: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Robert Bryce explains how important electricity is to modern life.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's Book: A Question of Power: Electricity and the Wealth of NationsFind Robert Bryce: Twitter, Author Page, Substack, Power Hungry PodcastRecommended 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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Mike Rinder's book: A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of ScientologyMike's blog, Twitter, and YouTubeMike'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 BeliefIf you are seeking help leaving Scientology: The Aftermath Foundation

Jonathan Rauch describes the social norms and institutions that generate knowledge.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of TruthJonathan's website, Twitter, and author page.Braver AngelsRecommended 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?Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Other books by JasonJason's upcoming book: Democracy: A Guided TourOther 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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's EmpireJonathan Katz's blog & TwitterJonathan 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 WorldOther books discussed: War is a Racket, by Smedley Butler; Overthrow; and The True FlagTopics: Haiti, China, Boxer Rebellion, revolution, war, business plot, coup

Michael Huemer makes the case that governments have no legitimate authority.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.Today's book: Is Political Authority an Illusion? (Little Debates about Big Questions)Michael Huemer's recommendation: The Problem of Political AuthorityOther books by HuemerMike's web presence: Fake Noûs Blog, Personal Website, University WebsiteOther 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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on Twitter.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 SmollaThe Institute for JusticeLiberty and Law articlesShort Circuit NewsletterFollow @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.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitter.Today's book: In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to PeaceChris 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. Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitter.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 WestFollow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterOther works by BruceContact Bruce: bruce.buenodemesquita@nyu.eduBruce'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 HenrichEconomic growth, Catholicism, religion, church and state, democracy, revolution, politics, Trump

Lauren Hall explains how governments cause birth and death to become over medicalized.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterToday's book: The Medicalization of Birth and DeathAlso by Lauren Hall: Family and the Politics of Moderation: Private Life, Public Goods, and the Rebirth of Social IndividualismLearn more about Lauren HallLauren'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 AmericaHow Doctors DieMedicine, 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 JusticeFollow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterBryan's twitterBryan's blogOther books by BryanBryan'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 PanicFeminists for LibertyReason Magazine's "Reason Roundup"The Feminist War on CrimeIndividualist Feminism: The Lost Tradition

Stephen Kinzer describes the CIA's morally dubious search for mind control.Follow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterToday's book: Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind ControlOther books by Stephen KinzerFollow @StephenKinzer on twitterStephen's websiteTopics: 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 LawFollow @IdeasHavingSexx on twitterMike's blog Fake NousMike's websiteOther books by MikeTopics: justice system, prison, plea bargaining, jury nullification, punishment, war on drugs, immigration, courts, torture

Mark Koyama explains the historical origins of sustained economic growth.