I have a dream that one day, people who refuse to bet on their statements will be viewed with greater contempt than those who bet and lose. Who’s with me?
Bryan Caplan, ‘The Mankiw-Krugman Non-Bet’, EconLog, March 11, 2009
Category Archives: Bryan Caplan
Bryan Caplan
It’s easy to change a child but hard to keep him from changing back. Instead of thinking of children as lumps of clay for parents to mold, we should think of them as plastic that flexes in response to pressure—and pops back to its original shape once the pressure is released.
Bryan Caplan, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think, New York, 2011, p. 5
Bryan Caplan
Two high school seniors sharing a pizza, judging the practicality and morality of anarcho-capitalism—it doesn’t get any better.
Bryan Caplan, ‘An Intellectual Autobiography’, In Walter Block (ed.), I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians (Auburn, Alabama, 2010), p. 75
Bryan Caplan
Nearly all modern economic theories of politics begin by assuming that the typical citizen understands economics and votes accordingly—at least on average. […] In stark contrast, introductory economics courses still tacitly assume that students arrive with biased beliefs, and try to set them straight, leading to better policy. […]
What a striking situation: As researchers, economists do not mention systematically biased economic beliefs; as teachers, they take their existence for granted.
Bryan Caplan, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, Princeton, 2007, p. 13