Plus Arnold Kling and Mike Munger on Thomas Sowell, Adam Smith as Innovator, and more on AI at EconTalk.

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** Econlib Newsletter
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August 2023

If you’re like us, at the beginning of every summer, it seems like time stretches out almost to eternity. And then, seemingly mere moments later, it’s the start of a new academic year. For all of you going “back to school,” this month’s edition is for you!

In addition to the terrific new content we introduce below, we wanted to take a moment and highlight just some of the other resources from our family of sites that might tickle your Independence Day fancy.
* Econlib Guides ([link removed]) is your best source for finding resources related to particular topics. We have a “Key Ideas” collection as well as collections based around the most widely used college textbooks and high school standards.
* Our sister site, AdamSmithWorks, has a treasure trove of lesson plans ([link removed]) and bellringers ([link removed]) for classroom use. You’ll find many ideas suitable for students in middle school through university.
* Speaking of AdamSmithWorks, mark your calendars for an online professional development opportunity on October 26, Adam Smith and the Division of Labor ([link removed]) .
* As longtime readers know, education has long been one of our core topics of interest. Here are just a few past selections of interest:
+ Educational Freedom ([link removed]) , by Arnold Kling.
+ Russ Roberts on Education ([link removed]) , an EconTalk podcast.
+ Is State Education Justified? ([link removed]) A Liberty Classic by Kevin Currie-Knight.
+ Roland Fryer on Educational Reform ([link removed]) , an EconTalk podcast.
+ Economics and the Art of Education ([link removed]) , by Richard Gunderman.
+ Why Read the Ancients Today? ([link removed]) a Liberty Matters Forum at the Online Library of Liberty.
* And finally, for even more inbox treats, we encourage you to subscribe to our own monthly QuickPicks ([link removed]) and AdamSmithWorks’ Teacher Resources ([link removed]) newsletters.

We hope you enjoy the selections above and all the new content we bring you below. We wish you a terrific month, and we’ll be back next month with more.

Until then, stay well and stay curious.


** NEW Econlib Articles
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August 2023


** Thomas Sowell, Political Conflict, and Madmen in Authority
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By Arnold Kling

Arnold Kling revisits Sowell’s classic account of the conflict between “constrained” and unconstrained” visions and posits another way to view this distinction. “If you think that embedded cultural knowledge usually contains more wisdom than elite knowledge, then you will tend toward the constrained vision. If you instead see existing norms and institutions as a problem and the ideas of a cognitive and moral elite as the solution, then you will tend toward the unconstrained vision.”

Join Kling and special guest Mike Munger on August 16 at noon EDT for our monthly “From the Shelf” conversation based on Sowell’s book.

Free to all, but pre-registration is required ([link removed]) .

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** Climate Activism versus Classical Liberalism at 35
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By Robert L. Bradley

Bradley looks back on the history of the climate change debate, pointing to the work of legendary classical liberal scholars William Niskanen and Steven Horwitz. While there is little doubt the planet continues to warm, Bradley argues policy makers have yet to answer the challenges posed by these two years ago.
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** Adam Smith: Experimental Innovator
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By Walter Castro and Julio Elias

Castro and Elias remind us that any characterization of Adam Smith as a free-market ideologue is incomplete at best. Drawing on the work of David Galenson, Castro and Elias present Smith as a Experimental Innovator, upon whose work many others have been able to build.
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** Don Lavoie on the Continuing Relevance of the Knowledge Problem
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By Cory Massimino

Don Lavoie reformulated and clarified the knowledge problem as developed by Ludwig von Mises ([link removed]) and Friedrich Hayek, took to task the various proposals of the day calling for more state control, and articulated a radically liberal alternative.

You might think we know all there is to know about the knowledge problem by now, but as it turns out, the proposals of the 2020s don’t differ all that much from the proposals of the 1980s, and Lavoie’s knowledge problem remains just as relevant as ever.
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** EconTalk: Conversation for the Curious
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Zvi Mowshowitz on AI and the Dial of Progress

The future of AI keeps Zvi Mowshowitz ([link removed]) up at night. He also wonders why so many smart people seem to think that AI is more likely to save humanity than destroy it. Listen as Mowshowitz talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts ([link removed]) about the current state of AI, the pace of AI's development, and where--unless we take serious action--the technology is likely to end up (and that end is not pretty).

Explore More ([link removed])

More Recent Episodes & Extras:
* Edward Glaeser Extra: Glaeser on Growth, Globalization, and Detroit ([link removed])
* Daron Acemoglu on Innovation and Shared Prosperity ([link removed])
* Lydia Dugdale on The Lost Art of Dying ([link removed])
* Erik Hoel on Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science ([link removed])
* Michael Munger Extra: Is It All About Transaction Costs? ([link removed])
* James Rebanks on The Shepherd’s Life ([link removed])
* Tyler Cowen Extra: From the Printing Press to Cyrano de GPT ([link removed])


** NO DUE DATE with Peter Boettke
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** What is No Due Date?
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No Due Date is Econlib’s subscription economics book club. Curated by Pete Boettke, you’ll read with him exploring the best in economics and the social sciences- both classic and contemporary.

Subscribers- in addition to receiving a new book each month- also get exclusive access to virtual events with Pete each month and a private online space for discussion and community. It’s a wonderful opportunity to engage with other interested readers in a great community.

Last month we read Matt Ridley’s How Innovation Works, and subscribers enjoyed a wonderful salon with Ridley ([link removed]) . This month, we’re reading Peter Leeson’s The Invisible Hook. It’s not too late to join us. Subscribe today ([link removed]) !

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