The recent boom of interest in alternative currencies has generated a dizzying amount of economic speculation, with a corresponding amount of confusion. The question that economists are asking right now is: what is the value of these currencies? Mainstream economics points to scarcity and utility as the primary sources of value, but these explanations don’t always yield satisfactory answers. The labor theory of value provides an alternative perspective on alternative currencies, one that might show us something of real worth in the emerging digital economy.
Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part Two)
Continuing with the Econtalk host on the moral aspects of economics, focused by Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations and Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Should we sacrifice ourselves to the machine of the economy? How does Smith’s idea of virtue and talk of the “impartial spectator” line up with economic growth?
Listen to part 1 first or get the unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL! Learn how to install the Citizen feed on your mobile device. The 2018 Wall Calendar is now available to order!
End song: “Needle Exchange” by Fritz Beer, as interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.
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Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Part One)
The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?
Continue with part 2 or get the full, ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
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Episode 177: Guest Russ Roberts on Adam Smith and Libertarian Economics (Citizen Edition)
The host of Econtalk provides his take on our ep. 174 on The Wealth of Nations, and explores with us the idea of emergent economic order. Is the economy more like a machine or a garden or what?
End song: “Needle Exchange” by Punchy; listen to singer/songwriter Fritz Beer interviewed on Nakedly Examined Music #2.
Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Part Two)
Continuing on the foundational text of economics. We talk “invisible hand,” “greed is good,” tariffs, unproductive labor, city vs. country, and the education racket.
Listen to part 1 first or get the ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
End song: “With My Looks and Your Brains” by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.
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Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Part One)
On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how not to screw it up?
Continues on part 2, or get your unbroken, ad-free Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!
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Episode 174: Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” (Citizen Edition)
On the foundational, 1776 text of modern economics. How does the division of labor and our instinct to exchange lead to the growth of wealth? Is the economy sufficiently machine-like to enable us to manipulate its output, or at least to tell us how not to screw it up?
End song: “With My Looks and Your Brains” by The Mr. T Experience. Hear about the singer/songwriter on Nakedly Examined Music #56.
Friedrich Hayek: The Road to Serfdom
“I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the juridical safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice.” –Friedrich Hayek
Episode 98: Guest Michael Sandel Against Market Society
Interviewing him on his book “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets” and continuing the discussion of his first book, “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice.” Free economic transactions are supposed to benefit both the buyer and the seller, so why not allow prostitution, vote buying, pay-to-immigrate, selling ad space on your house or body, and premium versions of everything for those willing to pay more? Sandel thinks that these practices are degrading even if uncoerced, and argues that classical liberalism–by trying to maintain neutrality on philosophical questions like “what is the good?”–doesn’t have the resources to prevent rampant and undesirable commodification. Learn more.
End song: “The Like Song,” from The MayTricks’ So Chewey (1993).
Episode 98: Guest Michael Sandel Against Market Society
Interviewing him on his book “What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets” and continuing the discussion of his first book, “Liberalism and the Limits of Justice.”
Mark and Frithjof on Bloggingheads.tv
In light of our podcast discussions here and here, I’m helping Frithjof Bergmann launch what will hopefully be a series of shorter video discussions on New Work at bloggingheads.tv. We made our first recording yesterday, and it has already been posted: Watch at Bloggingheads.tv There shouldn’t be much new here for PEL listeners who’ve already sat through our two interviews Continue Reading …
Robert Skidelsky on Work
Robert Skidelsky in How Much is Enough?: Money and the Good Life (2012) uses a 1930 essay from John Maynard Keynes (which you can read here) as a jumping-off point to argue, like Bergmann, that productivity gains enabled by past technological advances make it totally reasonable that we now should be working fewer hours than we are. However, Skidelsky’s range Continue Reading …
Recent Stories About Technology and Jobs: The Atlantic, PBS, and HuffPost
Continuing with my ongoing look at the “end of work,” here’s a short video from Derek Thompson at The Atlantic (Thanks to Ethan Gach for pointing this out to us): Watch at TheAtlantic.com.