The Most Interesting Thing About Bees We Haven't Talked About

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Wally Thurman: I am increasingly struck with how eager people are to believe doom and gloom scenarios about bees. He says there's some fairly straightforward facts you can look at that would disprove most of what is claimed. Thurman: There's something about human psychology that they will pick up non-facts about the bee world and run with it.

Wally Thurman of North Carolina State University and PERC talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the world of bees, beekeepers, and the market for pollination. Thurman describes how farmers hire beekeepers to pollinate their crops and how that market keeps improving crop yields and producing honey. Thurman then discusses how beekeepers have responded to Colony Collapse Disorder--a not fully understood phenomenon where colonies disband, dramatically reducing the number of bees. The discussion closes with the history of bee pollination as an example of a reciprocal externality and how Coase's insight helps understand how the pollination market works.