Is There a Global Public Good?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Ideas are a global public good. But if you assign the blame to government, it's not obvious why ideas aren't spreading more widely. One reason is there's plenty of evidence on a knowledge pillovers being localized. It may be that a lot of developing countries are indes more sav defense and national security focus which i suspect has lower trade offs....

What might the electrification of factories teach us about how quickly we’ll adapt to remote work? What gives American companies an edge over their competitors on the international stage? What value do management consultants really provide? Stanford professor Nick Bloom’s research studies how management practices, productivity techniques, and uncertainty shape outcomes across companies and countries.

He joined Tyler for a conversation about which areas of science are making progress, the factors that have made research more expensive, why government should invest more in R&D, how lean management transformed manufacturing, how India’s congested legal system inhibits economic development, the effects of technology on Scottish football hooliganism, why firms thrive in China, how weak legal systems incentivize nepotism, why he’s not worried about the effects of remote work on American productivity (in the short-term), the drawbacks of elite graduate programs, how his first “academic love” shapes his work today, the benefits of working with co-authors, why he prefers periodicals and podcasts to reading books, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded July 13th, 2020 Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Nick on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.