Words & Numbers

James and I both went to see the recent box office hit, The Sound of Freedom. I liked it. James didn’t. But we both were appalled at what appear to be seriously distorted claims made in the film about human trafficking. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Topic of the Week Human trafficking defined https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/ World data on human trafficking (p. 78) https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Trafficking-in-Persons-Report-2023.pdf US data on human trafficking https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/publications/human-trafficking-data-collection-activities-2022 Fraction of children in human trafficking (p. 48) https://www.unodc.org/documents/Global_Report_on_TIP.pdf Drug trafficking statistics https://www.ussc.gov/research/quick-facts/drug-trafficking Critique of Sou

Howie Baetjer, Rob McDonald, James Stacey Taylor, and Clark Neily join us to talk about gun rights, canceling the Founders, and animal rights. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig More Ant on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies Let Us Know What You Think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitter https://twitter.com/antonydavies James R. Harrigan on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan #AntonyDavies #JamesRHarrigan #WordsAndNumbers #economics #government #politics #policy #libertarian #classicalliberal #podcast #educational  

This encore performance is of our most popular episode. This episode, in which we explore unintended consequences, first aired in September of 2019. Foolishness of the week: 06:19 Main episode: 10:54 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/maryland-sk-court-case-teen-sexting-child-pornography.html https://www.blackbusiness.com/2019/05/roy-allela-black-engineer-invents-gloves-turn-sign-language-audible-speech.html Foolishness of the Week https://reason.com/2019/08/28/de-blasio-advisory-group-wants-to-abolish-gifted-classes-in-nyc-public-schools/ https://reason.com/2019/08/28/de-blasio-advisory-group-wants-to-abolish-gifted-classes-in-nyc-public-schools/ Episode Topic https://www.wired.com/2008/12/a380-is-so-quie/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-cobra-effect-a-new-f

James and Ant field questions from students at Brookfield Academy on possible fixes for Social Security, the politics of taxation and spending, and how we’ve broken the separation of powers,  Foolishness of the week: 06:41 Main episode: 03:53 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig More Ant on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies Let Us Know What You Think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitter https://twitter.com/antonydavies James R. Harrigan on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan #AntonyDavies #JamesRHarrigan #WordsAndNumbers #economics #government #politics #policy #libertarian #classicallib

James and Ant field questions from students at Brookfield Academy on possible fixes for Social Security, the politics of taxation and spending, and how we’ve broken the separation of powers,  Foolishness of the week: 06:41 Main episode: 08:18 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig More Ant on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies Let Us Know What You Think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitter https://twitter.com/antonydavies James R. Harrigan on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan #AntonyDavies #JamesRHarrigan #WordsAndNumbers #economics #government #politics #policy #libertarian #classicallib

This week’s episode is a live recording of a panel discussion on free speech at the University of Washington. Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig More Ant on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies Let Us Know What You Think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitter https://twitter.com/antonydavies James R. Harrigan on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan #AntonyDavies #JamesRHarrigan #WordsAndNumbers #economics #government #politics #policy #libertarian #classicalliberal #

This week, historian Rob McDonald, Constitutional scholar and lawyer Clark Neily, philosophy James Stacey Taylor, and economist Howard Baetjer join James and Ant around a fire to discuss the indictments against former President Donald Trump. To accommodate the extended conversation, this week we forego our usual quick hits and foolishness of the week. We think you'll agree that, regardless of on which side you fall on the topic, the whole business with Donald Trump qualifies as foolishness.

Weird things are happening. Retail sales have stagnated, savings are markedly down, yet unemployment is low, inflation isn’t as bad as it was. Have we reached a “new normal?” Foolishness of the week: 05:00 Main episode: 06:41 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/federal-judge-makes-history-holding-border-searches-cell-phones-require-warrant https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/his-township-spied-on-his-car-collection-with-a-drone-now-the-state-supreme-court-will-decide-if-they-violated-his-rights/ar-AA1c2djX https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65602519 Foolishness of the Week https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2023/06/04/are-chickens-really-related-to-t-rex-dinosaurs-peta-spotlights-evolutionary-link/ Topic of the Week https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RSXFS http

For decades and where the law is ambiguous, courts have invoked the Chevron doctrine in allowing regulatory agencies to decide for themselves the meaning of the ambiguous language. Unsurprisingly, agencies invariably interpret ambiguous language in their own favors. The Supreme Court recently agreed to reconsider the Chevron doctrine. Overturning the doctrine could call into question decades’ worth of regulatory rulings. Clark Neily joins us this week to discuss. Foolishness of the week: 06:10 Main episode: 08:37 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://dailyhive.com/toronto/the-anarchist-toronto-cafe-permanently-closing https://www.youtube.com/live/-B-9XOlMCks?feature=share https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-744499 Foolishness of the Week https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/toddl

People are saying that artificial intelligence will destroy jobs and enslave humans. We’ve heard this many times before. Before artificial intelligence, people said it about computers. Before computers, they said it about machines. Not only were people wrong before, they were spectacularly wrong. They’re likely wrong again. Foolishness of the week: 09:15 Main episode: 10:16 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits Foolishness of the Week Topic of the Week https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/should-the-laborer-fear-machines/380476/ Labor productivity (output per hour per worker) Up 2% per year since 1950 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRS85006092 Employees 1939: 30 million Today: 156 million https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PAYEMS Employment population ratio (employees per people 25

Episode 327: To Vote or Not To Vote This week’s episode comes live from Sandy High School in Sandy Oregon where James and I give arguments for and against voting. Foolishness of the week: 07:56 Main episode: 08:37 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Quick Hits https://apnews.com/article/facial-recognition-airport-screening-tsa-d8b6397c02afe16602c8d34409d1451f Foolishness of the Week https://www.wsj.com/articles/got-chocolate-milk-kids-washington-might-take-it-away-in-schools-b4c9b29e  Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More James at Smoke & Stories https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig More Ant on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies Let Us Know What You Think mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com Antony Davies on Twitte

We hear that women make 80 cents for every dollar that men make, and that blacks earn less than whites. This week, we delve into the data and find these claims far more complicated and interesting than they first appear. Foolishness of the week: 02:50 Main episode: 03:25 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits Foolishness of the Week Topic of the Week https://www.bls.gov/charts/usual-weekly-earnings/usual-weekly-earnings-current-quarter-by-race-and-sex.htm https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/race-and-ethnicity/2021/home.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr71/nvsr71-01.pdf https://www.atlantafed.org/chcs/wage-growth-tracker Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/

One of the things that cryptocurrency has done is to prompt central banks to develop their own digital currencies. These will combine the downsides of private digital currencies with the downsides of government currencies. Foolishness of the week: 08:21 Main episode: 09:58 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/07/21/are-you-in-the-global-middle-class-find-out-with-our-income-calculator/ https://apnews.com/article/drug-shortages-adderall-ozempic-855632a04a17c2bf75b6a89e4c08ef79 Foolishness of the Week https://news.yahoo.com/british-people-urged-swear-allegiance-223829342.html Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/group

The question, “How much do Americans earn?” seems simple. But there are so many moving parts below the surface that there is no single answer. For example, by “earn” do we mean “money from a job” or are we including interest income. What about Social Security retirement benefits? What about government welfare benefits? When we say “Americans” do we mean individual workers, or families, or households? When we say “How much” do we mean the average number or the median? Foolishness of the week: 02:43 Main episode: 06:00 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://globalnews.ca/news/9642634/psac-stike-remote-work/ https://www.dw.com/en/german-editor-fired-over-ai-created-schumacher

What happens if the dollar is no longer a world currency? Financial expert Pete Earle joins us to discuss his recent article on the end of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Foolishness of the week: 05:42 Main episode: 07:39 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://yourmileagemayvary.net/2023/04/09/a-loophole-to-outwit-airlines-no-name-change-policy https://www.bankrate.com/loans/auto-loans/rates/ Foolishness of the Week https://ktla.com/news/local-news/california-power-companies-roll-out-fixed-rate-bill-proposal/ Episode Topic https://www.aier.org/article/de-dollarization-has-begun/ Words & Numbers Backstage https://www.facebook.com/groups/130029457649243/ More

Bank runs, green investing, doctor shortage in Europe, are people getting dumber? Foolishness of the week: 09:07 Main episode: 11:32 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits www.goodnewsnetwork.org https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3917919-nyc-bill-would-ban-discrimination-based-on-weight/ Foolishness of the Week https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/10/gop-bomb-mexico-fentanyl-00091132 Episode Topic https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/federal-reserve-meeting-interest-rate-march-2023/card/pacwest-stock-falls-premarket-after-reporting-deposit-fall-5iilc6yQ4WDh3QhQIvPm https://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/bank/ https://reason.com/2023/03/21/bidens-first-veto-protects-and-promote

Episode 321: Space and Property As humans venture out into space - not just under the auspices of government, but now as private citizens - establishing and adjudicating property rights will become ever more important. The treaty under which countries operate was signed back in the 1960s. It says that government may not lay claim to anything beyond Earth, but is completely silent about private citizens. Foolishness of the week: 07:08 Main episode: 09:51 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://calmatters.org/transportation/2023/03/california-high-speed-rail/ https://youtu.be/iJOb9xHggS4?t=447 https://dnyuz.com/2023/03/09/with-its-future-at-stake-the-academy-tries-to-fix-th

Episode 320: Politics, Anarchy, and Baseball   Economist, former mayor, self-professed anarchist, and baseball fan Randy Simmons joins us this week to talk about government and politics through the eyes of someone who is both a skeptic of government and who served in elected office. We recorded this episode in January, but saved it for the opening of baseball season. You’ll hear why in the episode.   Foolishness of the week: 10:18 Main episode: 14:21 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://www.wsj.com/articles/home-buyers-big-ask-the-deal-is-off-if-i-lose-my-job-d9f30f45 Foolishness of the Week https://news.yahoo.com/cuba-holds-stacked-election-amid-120000306.html Episode To

Many listeners have asked that we do an episode on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and its implications for the rest of the banking sector. Peter Earle, economist and former Wall Street trader, joins us to talk about what happened, how it might have been avoided, what comes next, and whether the rest of the banking system is in danger. Foolishness of the week: 04:10 Main episode: 05:50 Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits https://news.yahoo.com/l-riders-bail-metro-trains-120007450.html Foolishness of the Week https://news.yahoo.com/l-riders-bail-metro-trains-120007450.html Episode Topic https://www.aier.org/people/peter-c-earle/ https://thestack.technology/silicon-valley-bank-c

Foolishness of the week: 12:19 Main episode: 16:54   People’s view of the past is biased because we tend to forget the bad things. The (inexplicable to an economist) tendency of young people to think that like in the 1950s was better than life today is one example. This week, we talk about this tendency to nostalgia and how it shows up in pop-culture.   Get Your Copy of Cooperation and Coercion Now! http://www.cooperationandcoercion.com See More Ant and James! http://www.wordsandnumbers.org Show Your Support for Words & Numbers at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/wordsandnumbers Apply for the Seminar on Classical Liberalism: Theory and Practice https://www.wabash.edu/stephenson-institute/summer-seminars Quick Hits Foolishness of the Week Episode Topic https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/12/balkanization-boutique-world-james-harrigan.html https://isi.org/intercollegiate-review/truth-justice-and-the-american-way/ https://thecurioustask.podbean.com/e/ep-123-james-harrigan-what-does-pop-culture-say-