The Curious Task

Alex Aragona speaks with Anton Howes about when the sparks of innovation started in Britain, and what fanned the flames moving forward. References from The Curious Task Episode 97 with Anton Howes You can read more about the Age of Invention at the substack where Anton Howes writes about his ideas here. You can also find his working paper titled The Spread of Improvement here. Deirdre McCloskey details her arguments about ethics and commerce in her series which begins with Bourgeois Virtues, available for purchase from Amazon here. The European Guilds by Sheilagh Ogilvie is available for purchase through Princeton Press here.

Bill Easterly tours some of the concepts from his book The Tyranny of Experts, and explores why technocrats imposing their own form of economic development on cultures and peoples can produce more harm than good. References from The Curious Task Episode 96 with Bill Easterly You can purchase a copy of The Tyranny of the Experts by Bill Easterly here.  The End of Poverty by Jeff Sachs can be found on Amazon here. The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek can be purchased here.

Alex Aragona speaks with Dennis Rasmussen about his findings on how the American Founding Fathers truly felt about the experiment they designed and built as time went on. References from The Curious Task Episode 95 with Dennis Rasmussen Dennis Rasmussen previously joined The Curious Task to speak about his book The Infidel and the Professor, and you can listen to that episode here. The book discussed on this episode of The Curious Task is Fears of the Setting Sun by Dennis Rasmussen, which can be purchased from Amazon here. The rising sun armchair can be seen digitally here. More information on the Federalists can be found here, and the Anti-Federalists here. The soundtrack to Hamilton can be listened to here.

Alex Aragona speaks with Graeme Thompson about the classical liberal tradition in Canada, and what the evolution of that tradition has looked like. References from The Curious Task Episode 94 with Graeme Thompson A collection of the speeches of Wilfred Laurier can be found in an edited edition by Arthur Milnes, available from Amazon here. Macdonald Laurier and the Election of 1891 by Christopher Pennington can be found from Penguin House here. Graeme Thompson’s piece “Whatever Happened to Laurier” can be found in the National Post here. Graeme mentions positive and negative liberty by Isaiah Berlin, which is discussed on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy here. The works of Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and J.S. Mill can be read for free through the Online Library of Liberty.  

Jacob Levy gives a tour of his thoughts on the conversations surrounding social justice, and how liberals might consider the topic from the perspective of social "injustice". References from The Curious Task Episode 93 with Jacob Levy You can listen to Jacob Levy’s other appearances on The Curious Task here and here. Rationalism, Pluralism, and Freedom by Jacob T. Levy can be purchased from Amazon here. You can purchase Free Market Fairness by John Tomasi from Amazon here. You can read more concepts of spontaneous and emergent order found in Hayek here. Judith Shklar lays out her argument about injustice in her book The Faces of Injustice (which can be purchased here).

In honour of her birthday, Sandy Ikeda explores the ideas of Jane Jacobs and reflects on how her thinking on urban centres is still relevant today. References from The Curious Task Episode 92 with Sandy Ikeda You can listen to Sandy Ikeda discuss “Why Can’t a City Be a Work of Art?” on The Curious Task here. A copy of Jane Jacob’s Death and Life of Great American Cities can be purchased from Amazon here. Some of her other works include The Economy of Cities (available here) and Systems of Survival (available here). For those who want to learn more about Austrian economics, our friends at the Frasier Institute have released an introduction to the subject here. You can read more about the thoughts Sandy Ikeda has on Urban Design and Social Complexity here.

Terence Kealey speaks about the history of state involvement in funding science and technology, and why it may not be as good or innovative of an idea as it may seem. References from The Curious Task Episode 91 with Terence Kealey You can purchase a copy of Sex Science and Profits by Terence Kealey on Amazon here. The story of Katalin Karikó is explored in detail in this article. Terence Kealey has a chapter in Visions of Liberty, available for purchase here.

Alex Aragona speaks with Nick Cowen as he explores the current state of sex work regulation, and what approaches regulators could (and should) take when considering the increasing online landscape for these services. References from The Curious Task Episode 90 with Nick Cowen Nick Cowen is the author of Neoliberal Social Justice. You can read the first chapter of his book here. Nick Cowen’s article Sex Work and Online Platforms: What Should Regulation Do? can be downloaded and read here. Within the article, the section which specifically explores the various models of sex work regulation begins on page 5. Markets without Limits by Peter Jaworski and Jason Brennan can be found here. Michael Munger speaks more about transaction costs in the economy with our friends at Econtalk here. An explanation of the key debates currently about sex work can be found by following this link.

Alex Salter dives into Federal Reserve policies during the pandemic, what it got right and wrong, and what the lasting impacts will be. References from The Curious Task Episode 89 with Alex Salter Alex Salter is the co-author of Money and the Rule of Law along with Peter Boettke and Daniel Smith. His book can be purchased from Amazon here. To read more about the Federal Reserve’s actions during the financial crisis from Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Donald Kohn, see here. Alex Salter’s most recent commentary on the Federal Reserve at AIER can be found here and here. Alex Salter discusses the Federal Reserves response to COVID-19 here. For more information about the accountability and transparency of the federal reserve, see the report from Scott Sumner at the Mercatus Center found here.

Dan and Sabine discuss their newest policy brief with the Mercatus Center, and what changes they'd like to see to Canadian and American immigration policy as it relates to movement between the two countries. References from The Curious Task Episode 88 with Dan Griswold & Sabine El-Chidiac The policy brief co-authored by Daniel Griswold and Sabine El-Chidiac titled “Deepen Us-Canada Ties with a Post-COVID-19 Agreement for the Free Movement of People can be found here. Dan Griswold’s book Mad About Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization can be purchased on Amazon here.  For more information on Canadian Immigrants in the United States, see this information from the Migration Policy Institute here. Dan Griswold explains his stance on Employment-Based Immigration Policies found in Australia and Canada in an interview with the Washington Journal here.  Find Free to Move: Foot Voting, Migration and Political Freedom by Ilya Somin available for purchase here. Ilya Somin also appeared on the Curious Task to speak about voting with your feet here.