Words & Numbers

Everybody vaguely familiar with basic economic concepts knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s a great phrase and speaks to the principles of both opportunity cost and scarcity. That said, a “free lunch” refers to more than your afternoon repast. Everything costs something. And if you end up paying zero dollars for it, that only means it was paid for by someone else. This holds true for college tuition. It may cost a student zero dollars, and that student will certainly benefit from not having to pay for higher education herself, but what’s really been done is shifting the cost from the student—who is actually using the service—to the taxpayers—who certainly aren’t. So while there’s certainly a big problem with student debt in America, the solution isn’t “free” tuition. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they get deep in the weeds about college tuition and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: 11 year old hacker changes election results California law would prohibit restaurants from listing soft drinks on menus Foolishness of the Week Cops taser 87 year-old woman Topic of the Week: Public policy and financing higher education Tuition discounting Financing college through equity instead of debt Student loan data Join the Conversation Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Words & Numbers Backstage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

James and Ant have a lot of experience with both high school and college students. Most of the time, they’re extremely impressed with the high school students that they encounter. But something seems to be happening in the summer between high school graduation and beginning their first semester of college. Something… not ideal. And to a point, it’s perfectly natural. Young people are interested in exploring their newfound freedom, and that includes the amount of attention that they pay to their studies. Because of this, a great many otherwise intelligent students find themselves struggling with college. So, if you do decide to attend a college or university, how can you keep this from happening? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as the explore this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: Number of bachelor’s degrees conferred by field of study Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Join the conversation at Words & Numbers Backstage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As the back-to-school season gets into full swing, hundreds of thousands of young people are heading back to class at their chosen college or university. On average, the simple dollar cost of tuition and fees for a four-year degree is about a quarter of a million dollars. A large majority of students will have to take on some kind student loan debt to cover these costs. But we've been told our whole lives that in order to have a good job and successful career, a college degree is both necessary and an automatic golden ticket, so it has to be worth it. Right? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they drill down into the value of a college degree and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: Tuition and fees at 4-year institutions over time 30 million jobs in the US pay $55,000 per year and don’t require a college degree High paying jobs sit empty while students go to college Median income by education, 2017 (table 5) Median income by education, 1997 (table 4) Unemployment rate by education, 2017 Unemployment rate by education, 1997 Fraction of 15-24 year olds enrolled in college over time Average pay by college major FEE high school seminars Social Media: Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Join the conversation at Words & Numbers Backstage   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People tend to have a strange blind spot when it comes to government. We—or a lot of us, at least—tend to assume the best of intentions from our government. Our fellow civilians garner suspicion, but our elected officials are somehow magically benevolent and altruistic. When governments misbehave and act violently, we tend to think about these actions in terms of warfare. And yes, in the 20th century alone, wars have killed around 106 million people. That's a lot and not to be discounted. But in the same timeframe, governments have killed at least that many—and probably more like twice that number—within the confines of their own borders. We forget that a government is a monopoly on the use of force, and every time we ask our government to do something, even something as innocuous as putting up parking meters, what we're really asking them to do is to bring their force—their violence—to bear on our behalf. It's a sobering thought. Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they dive deep into this subject and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.   Show Notes: Venezuela’s 1,000,000% inflation Seattle’s street cars too big for their tracks Foolishness of the week Bank of America loses customers’ safe deposit boxes Topic of the week: How many people do governments kill? Soviet Union kills 20 million of its own citizens China kills 65 million of its own citizens Cambodia kills 1.5 to 3 million of its own citizens 20th century democide Less than 500,000 people murdered worldwide annually by non-governments US incarceration rates 1960-2012 Incarceration rates across countries 7 million Americans either in prison, on probation or parole How We Thrive documentary Antony Davies on Twitter James R. Harrigan on Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gallup recently asked 1,000 people about what the most important issue we’re dealing with is in the United States. You might think that the majority answered drugs and gun control, but you’d be wrong. Instead, the survey found that drugs only received 1% of votes as being the biggest issue, and a whopping 2% for gun rights, with those numbers only going as high as 4% since January. The only time those numbers changed was in March, when the media massively promoted the gun rights debate, culminating into the already-forgotten March for Our Lives movement. As much as we criticize the media, these numbers show how much they manufacture sensationalism. Join us this week as we discuss open-ended polls and the influence of media on people’s issues with James Harrigan and Antony Davies. Show Notes: Diamonds worth $31 septillion Jeff Bezos worth $150 billion Doctors give patients seconds Foolishness of the week Congressman calls for ban on cryptocurrency Topic of the week: What’s the largest problem facing the country? Gallup poll School shootings not as common as the media portrays Gun violence waning   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are many people in this world who like to make the argument, "Correlation is not causation." And this oft-used expression is true. Correlation is not, in fact, causation. Just because two things tend to happen at about the same time does not necessarily mean that they have anything to do with each other at all. That said, lack of correlation does mean lack of causation. So what does that mean for economic freedom and "good" social outcomes? Join James and Antony as they unpack what economic freedom indices indicate and more on this episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: Employment rate almost full recovered from 2008 crash TSA gets immunity Foolishness of the week Starbucks’ straws Topic of the week: Economic Freedom Equality, Liberty, and Prosperity Fraser: Economic Freedom of the World Fraser: Economic Freedom of North America Heritage/WSJ: Index of Economic Freedom Cato: Freedom in the 50 States Contact us Antony on Twitter James on Twitter Words & Numbers - Backstage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Why are we debating the Supreme Court nominees as much as we are? Unbelievably, written requirements of the Supreme Court are non-existent. Where the Constitution lists age and experience requirements for both presidential and congressional candidates, only a tiny paragraph describes what the third branch of government should look like. All of those standards and regulations you think are law? None have been put in writing anywhere. In fact, judicial review, one of the most important parts of a Supreme Court Justice’s job, only started in 1803, established following the ruling of Marbury v. Madison. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan this week as they discuss the surprising standards set for Supreme Court Justice candidates. Show Notes: North Korea executes a General for giving food to soldiers’ families The United States fines people for giving food to the poor Black men are succeeding in America Foolishness of the week Americans ask the FAA to regulate seat size Topic of the week: The Supreme Court Sotomayor on the idea of a living constitution Scalia on the idea of a living constitution Congressional job approval Agreement rates among Supreme Court Justices   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What do you know about the political party you disagree with the most? Who do you think makes the group up? Is it a bunch of “libtard snowflakes” who are all union-backed? Or is it a bunch of offensive alt-right wackos with too much money to know what to do with it? Either way, those perceptions are both completely off-base—caricatural, even—and dangerous. A study, titled, “The Parties in our Heads: Misperceptions About Party Composition and Their Consequences” discusses exactly how Democrats and Republicans perceive both themselves and each other, and shows exactly how inaccurate those perceptions are. From exaggerated numbers of union-affiliated democrats to impossible statistics of Republicans who make more than $250,000 per year, join us as we discuss the dangers of political misrepresentation and more in this week’s episode of Words and Numbers with James Harrigan and Antony Davies. Show Notes: Harley Davidson moving overseas Largest U.S. nail manufacturer on brink of extinction FDA approves marijuana-based drug Foolishness of the week US is the 10th most dangerous country for women John Cleese and the BBC Laura Ingalls Wilder Topic of the week Each party is wrong about the other The Parties in Our Heads: Misperceptions about Party Composition and Their Consequences     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The criminal justice system presents a lot of issues, the least of which is discrimination. . . despite what the public may think. Over decades, prosecutors have slowly taken power and responsibility away from the jury and into their own hands, destroying the premise of “presumed innocent until proven guilty.” Statutory immunity, legal discretion and the opaqueness of the criminal justice system are all much bigger problems than discrimination, which is, in fact, a much less negative term than we generally think. But why are these things such big issues? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan this week with special guest, criminal justice attorney Catherine Barnard as they explore some of the biggest issues with today’s justice system. Show Notes: Cure for diabetes Republican proposal to balance the budget by cutting entitlements Proposed 2019 Federal budget Foolishness of the week Sarah Huckabee Sanders kicked out of restaurant Topic of the week: Equality under the law Catherine Bernard James and Ant on Twitter @JamesRHarrigan @AntonyDavies     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Which would you rather be, a member of the working class in America today or an 18th-century French monarch? The answer to that is almost certainly the former. A lot has changed in the last 200 years. Heck, a lot has changed in the last 20 years, for that matter, and with a few notable exceptions, those changes have been for the better. In the year 1800, 95 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty. Today, it's less than 10 percent, despite there being more than 6 billion more people living today. We carry in our pockets a supercomputer that allows us access to the sum total of human knowledge that we use to look at cat GIFs. Life is pretty amazing. So why do so few people believe that's the case? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers. Show Notes: Iraq is getting safer Empty seats at the world cup Foolishness of the week Netflix’ 5-second rule Topic of the week: The world is getting better every day Louis CK, everything is amazing and nobody is happy Cafe Hayek: Most Americans are richer than Rockefeller Pew survey on perceptions of gun violence Media and cognitive biases Living conditions in the United States U.S. Firearm deaths 2012-2016 U.S. Firearm deaths 1975-1994 (chart 5.1) U.S. non-fatal firearm violence 1993-2011 Military and civilian deaths due to armed conflicts since 1945 Child labor rates 1950-present Global income inequality 1800-present Gender inequality 1995-2015 World poverty 1820-2015 Animation showing longevity and income by country 1800-present Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices