Video, talks, podcasts update

I have been remiss in posting links to videos, talks, and podcasts, for those of you who enjoy them.  Perhaps you have a long boring drive this weekend and NPR is driving you nuts. 

1. An interview on MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) with my good friend Luigi Zingales from the University of Chicago Booth School, in the Capitalisn't series, following up on my review of Stephanie Kelton's book. Go to link for other formats or if embed code below doesn't work. Apple podcast. Spotify. 

2. A discussion for the Manhattan Institute, Exploding Public Debt: Consequences For Fixed Income Markets And Future Fiscal Policy together with Raghu Rajan (Chicago Booth) and Simon Johnson (MIT), moderated by Manhattan's Allson Scrager. Even if you're tired of my views on the subject, my co-panelists had fascinating things to say  

3. The Curse of Cross Subsidies. This is part of the Hoover Policy-Ed effort, short highly produced videos that try to explain one key idea well. The idea here: Taxing and spending is not as bad as mandated cross subsidies. Our government forces you and me to overpay for health care, to subsidize others. The cross-subsidy cannot withstand competition. This is a key original sin of our dysfunctional health care and insurance system. We put a lot of work into saying this even more clearly in the video, which is also very professionally produced. Embedded here, but the top link has readings and more materials, worth a look, as is the whole series. If you're teaching intro economics this might be useful. 

4. Goodfellows (link to the series, including summaries and other formats).

- Sept 29 we talk with John Yoo about law and the possible tumult in the upcoming election, especially if it is close. John has a deep grasp of history and law, and seems to be able to quote the Federalist Papers from memory. An informative episode. Direct link. 

- Sept 23 we talk with HR McMaster about his new Book Battlegrounds.  He didn't get off easy just because he's a buddy. A great tour of foreign policy; Russia, China, the Middle East, what America does right, mistakes, and outlook for the future. Direct Link

If you want a sense of what kind of straight-up guy McMaster is, read his preface: 

This is not the book that most people wanted me to write. Friends, agents, editors, and even family, asked me to write a tell-all about my experience in the White House to confirm their opinions of President Donald Trump. Those who supported the president would have liked me to depict him as an unconventional leader who, despite his brash style, made decisions and implemented policies that advanced American interests. Those who opposed the president wanted an account to confirm thei judgment that he was a bigoted narcissist unfit for office. And they wanted me to write it immediately, so that the book might influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Although writing such a book might be lucrative, I did not believe that it would be useful or satisfactory for most readers. The polarization of America’s polity and that of other free and open societies is destructive, and I wanted to write a book that might help transcend the vitriol of partisan political discourse and help readers understand better the most significant challenges to security, freedom, and prosperity. I hoped that improved understanding might inspire the meaningful discussion and resolute action necessary to overcome those challenges.

 5. Last but not least, the most recent Grumpy Economist podcast.  

This one is on the future of cities. I think cities will bounce back. They always have, from worse than this. No, zoom does not change everything -- as the telephone, fax machine, fedex, email did not change everything. But some cities will spiral down and some cities will prosper. Cities are built on agglomerations, and once they start to spiral down it's hard to reverse. 

I realize I'm not as good at this as I should be, and I can announce that I've signed up Ed Glaser to come talk to the grumpy podcast about the future of cities next week. The speculations will be much better informed. 

from The Grumpy Economist https://ift.tt/3dlISjx