Had a great time talking to Burt Helm of INC about AirBnB. He did a very informative article, for which I provided a small and largely uninformative set of thoughts. But the article is worth reading in full.
The Butler symposium, "Capitalism and the Good Society," is up at EconTalk. Epstein, Munger, Sidelsky circus, with Russ Roberts as ringmaster.
It's really LOOONG, of course, but the individual parts are interesting, and different. And the HD version of it is really quite beautiful filmed, as you would expect from genius-boy John Papola doing the production.
In which I tell:
1. The Pig story
2. The Shopping Cart story
3. The Unicorn story
4. The Bleeding story
So, story time! (And ya gotta love Skidelsky's sox...)
Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the role of formal rules and informal rules in sports. Many sports restrain violence and retaliation through formal rules while in others, protective equipment is used to reduce injury. In all sports, codes of conduct emerge to deal with violence and unobserved violations of formal rules. Munger explores the interaction of these forces across different sports and how they relate to insights of Coase and Hayek. ATSRTWT!
UPDATE: A.R. comments over at the podcast about the "greatest scandal in the history of cricket." Just being able to type that phrase made my whole day. "Cricket scandal" is an excellent start to any paragraph. And then the scandal does in fact turn out to be extremely interesting. Reading the first paragraph of this, I realized that I am painfully ignorant of cricket. But this is a bit easier to understand. This is more serious. And very interesting. Thanks, Aswin!
UPDATE II: Ghostbusters! "More like a guideline than a rule..." at 0:14. WARNING: NSFW! Her request is rather indelicate.(Nod to WH)
Tomorrow, at long last, Russ and I get to do that voodoo that we do, and record another EconTalk. The subject is a little different from what we have done in the past: Sports rules and equipment.
The claim is that there are three moving parts: Equipment, formal rules, and informal rules.
If you try to change one thing, such as allowing an equipment change, you get a bunch of unintended and possibly bad consequences.
So, should fighting be allowed? Well, in some sports ( chess, golf--unless you are Sergio Garcia--, tennis) fights are almost unknown. In some sports (basketball, soccer, football), a fight means you are ejected. But in some sports, particularly baseball and hockey, fighting is an important check on other kinds of violence. In particular, I found this quote from Gordie Howe, one of the best hockey players ever: "If you get rid of fighting, you are going to get more of the dirty play. Let them fight, and get rid of all of the stickwork." The point is, the threat of retaliation in the form of humiliation, rather than eye-for-an-eye physical damage, makes the game safer.
Of course, the "fighting" can be stylized. Here is a baseball brawl from a game in South Korea.
This kind of fighting is of course well known in the animal world, in dominance displays:
On the other hand, it is possible for a baseball fight to be an actual fight. Most famously, Ray Knight v. Eric Davis. (Full disclosure: I really, really hated Ray Knight, and thought Eric Davis was not treated fairly here. The whole thing was that jerk Knight's fault. Go Reds, Dutch Boy).
Time for Russ Roberts to admit that he is out of useful things to talk about.
That MUST be true, because he asked me to be on EconTalk again. So, the barrel, and its bottom, must be being scratched. It's a weekly show, and it's truly amazing he does it so well. It is still a good show, consistently. Except when I'm on, I mean.
On the other hand, this is a chance to answer, or at least talk about, the deepest economic and social mysteries out there. My question to you, the readers of KPC, the smartest and most physically attractive people in the THE WORLD....what should be the next Russ Roberts-Mike Munger show?
It's not majority rule; I'll decide which suggestion is best. But I am seriously asking for answers in comments. Since Russ and I have already done 20 shows, we have hit quite a few of the most obvious topics.
And, remember, it cannot be about something currently being considered by Congress, or directly related to partisan public policy considerations.
Richard Epstein, Jamie Galbraith, Russ Roberts, Robert Sidelski in a giant cage match. Oh, and me, too. Butler U, Indianapolis, April 10. Bios of the panelistas here....
Leigh Steinberg, legendary sports agent, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his career as a sports agent. He discusses the challenges of building a clientele, how sports agents spend their time, strategies for building a brand as an athlete, and safety issues currently affecting the National Football League.
For more then 30 years, I have heard Angus call himself "Betty." (Nope, no more details. Just trust me here.)
So, in honor of Angus, I made a video about externalities in which Betty figures prominently. I am not a very attractive man, but it turns out I am a genuinely repulsive woman.
A credit: I had never recognized the centrality of manners, and "moral" social norms in controlling externalities. But my main man Russ Roberts pointed it out in editing this piece, and then doing this podcast, years ago. So, a big post Festival of Lights shout out to RR: when I say "Manners," I always think of YOU, big man!
UPDATE: Sam Wilson, yes, of COURSE the model for Art is the Dub-MOE. I even tried to get that vacant Pooh-bear expression down. As for Carl....well, a guy needs SOME secrets.
UPDATE II: I don't mean to claim there is anything intellectually novel here, folks. My good friend John Nye had a very nice piece, years ago, that makes the "knowledge problem" point way better in print. And this recent post by Steven Landsburg did a nice job summarizing the issues, and the problems, of an arbitrary "starting point." Oh, and Mario Rizzo, too. I could go on, but the point is that I am sumarizing what a lot of people already know, but rarely gets taught when the subject of externalities comes up in basic micro courses.
And on the other side a guy whose first name is "Lord." Russ Roberts schools "Lord", whose qualifications appear to be a cool accent and a desire to canonize Keynes, in this video.
This is more than a month old, but some interesting stuff. For instance, I did not know that Eddie Murphy's brother Rich sang the refrain of the rap song. (The CSPAN show is an hour long. So it's probably only for real fans...)
The 20th time (here's the whole list) Russ Roberts has been kind enough to let me jabber. I really enjoyed this one, a very interesting discussion about my idea of "Euvoluntary Exchange." (The paper has finally come out... Here is the gated version. Happy to share if you email me.)
Simon and Garfunkel? Pikers. Gilbert and Sullivan? Don't make me laugh.
From the set of FotC, at Drew University, a candid of the mighty Russ Roberts and Mungowitz podcast duo. (19 albums and still workin!) No, Russ is not standing in a hole.
(Thanks to Jeff Boyd for the pic. Jeff also sent this article about the shoot).
