Why "the armchair economist is "not an environmentalist"
Listen now
Description
On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews economist Steven Landsburg, professor of economics at The University of Rochester, about how economics can help us understand many realms--including today's "religion of environmentalism." They discuss: - How Landsburg's popular book The Armchair Economist came about. - Why Landsburg regards "people respond to incentives" as the foundation of economics. - How understanding incentives makes sense of seemingly counterintuitive outcomes, such as recycling programs leading to fewer trees. - How understanding economics could have vastly improved vaccine distribution in the US. - The science of ecology vs. the religion of ecology. - How human beings ability to adapt to climate changes is largely ignored in today's discussions--and why economists don't speak up about it. - How "environmentalists" treat their personal preferences as morally superior to others' preferences. - Landsburg's economics-based approach to species extinction.
More Episodes
From Alex Epstein: "Recently I was having dinner with Peter Thiel (the billionaire investor/entrepreneur who founded PayPal and Palantir) and he raised some interesting challenges to my book Fossil Future (which he has enthusiastically endorsed). I suggested, 'Let’s record a discussion where you...
Published 06/29/23
Published 06/29/23
On the latest episode of Power Hour, Alex Epstein explains in detail how to create Energy Freedom Talking Points, and announces new opportunities to work for or contribute to the Energy Talking Points project. Also: How Alex and Energy Talking Points are changing AI Chat.
Published 03/27/23