The Problem of Aligning Market Prices With Social Values

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"There is no better way for harnessing the 8 billion brain anthology intelligence of humanity to achieving social goals we all want, other than to organize a functioning market system," he says. "The only rights that matter are property rights and so unless you are very, very good at making the distribution of property rights in accord ... then you get yourself into huge trouble." He adds: 'I'm with Maggie Thatcher on this that definitely other roads in keeping with British constitutional traditions I believe she wrote can achieve all that is good about such goals'

Brad DeLong, professor of economics at UC Berkley, OG econ blogger, and Tyler’s Harvard classmate, joins the show to discuss Slouching Towards Utopia, an economic history of the 20th century that’s been nearly thirty years in the making.

Tyler and Brad discuss what can really be gleaned from the fragmentary economics statistics of the late 19th century, the remarkable changes that occurred from 1870-1920, the astonishing flourishing of German universities in the 19th century, why investment banking allowed America and Germany to pull ahead of Britain economically, what enabled the Royal Society to become a force for progress, what Keynes got wrong, what Hayek got right, whether the middle-income trap persists, his favorite movie and novel, blogging vs. Substack, the Slouching Towards Utopia director’s cut, and much more.

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Recorded November 11th, 2022

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