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PODCAST

Words & Numbers

Words & Numbers touches on issues of Economics, Political Science, Current Events and Policy. Each Wednesday we"ll be sharing a new Words & Numbers podcast featuring Antony Davies Ph.D and James Harrigan Ph.D talking about the economics and political science of current events.

education news commentary

All Episodes

27:20

Episode 68: As Long As People Are Free, There Will Be...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/05/30

If there's something that progressives agree on, it's that inequality exists and that it's a problem. But what do we mean when we say "inequality"? Is it that some people have more "stuff" (money, goods, access to services) than others? Is it that some people are more skilled, more talented, better looking, or just plain luckier than others? In a relatively free society with fairly consistent equality of opportunity, the result is inevitably going to be inequality of outcome. And this is not

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32:08

Episode 67: Words and Numbers Listener Special

Words & Numbers ·

2018/05/23

This week on Words and Numbers, it's all about you, the listener. Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they answer questions from listeners posed in the Words and Numbers: Backstage Facebook group. Don't miss out on the next opportunity to have your questions answered on air! Join the Words and Numbers: Backstage Facebook group, where the conversation continues. Show Notes: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Datasets Do we have the right to silence speech? Is there a case for progressive taxes

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32:42

Episode 66: If Your Heart Is in the Right Place, You...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/05/16

Adam Smith is widely regarded as the "father of economics," but what isn't as widely known is that he never considered himself an economist. He thought of himself as a philosopher. And, indeed, in the tradition of the Scottish Enlightenment, he was one. In the Scottish Enlightenment, study was largely divided into two categories: natural science and moral science. Natural science largely explains itself, but moral science was an attempt to ground ethics and morality in as much scientific reality and

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32:16

Episode 65: Which Is More Important, Political...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/05/09

We are individuals, but we're also members of society. Economics generally deals with individual action whereas politics deals with the behavior of society as a whole. Economics, as a discipline, seeks to understand, explain, and sometimes predict human behavior. Politics, on the other hand, seeks to control the behavior of society at large. When we talk about freedom, what kind of freedom are we talking about? Is it the ability to decide which goods and services we purchase and from whom without

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26:34

Episode 64: Why We Don't Have Principled Politicians?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/05/02

Recently, Senator Chuck Schumer introduced a bill that would decriminalize marijuana on the federal level. He stated that the legality of marijuana should be a matter left up to individual states. This ringing endorsement of federalism might carry a little more weight if Senator Schumer hadn't spent a large part of his political career trying to micromanage Americans' behavior at the national level. Hillary Clinton is widely considered to be a staunch supporter of the LGBT community; however, she

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29:10

Episode 63: Can Comedy Change the World?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/04/25

In today's strange climate of political correctness, free speech exists in a weird place. Safe spaces, First Amendment zones, the attitude of victimization, and accusations that "your fav is problematic" abound. And yet, important things, challenging things, dangerous things still need to be said and are being said. One critical "loophole" for dodging the would-be censors to get these ideas out into the world is comedy. Comedians live in a peculiar kind of in-between that allows for a certain

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26:50

Episode 62: Progressive Taxation Makes Everyone Worse...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/04/17

Every year, the American people spend about $30 billion on accountants and software to file their taxes. That's on top of taxes themselves. Approximately 26 percent of the average American's income is collected, in some form or another, in taxes. This includes all forms of taxation, such as state and local taxes, as well as federal. If we look at just federal taxation, that still comes to a very respectable 16 to 18 percent (on average) of GDP. But how does that all break down when it comes to

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27:39

Episode 61: Why Our High Schools Can’t Keep Up with...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/04/11

Much has been said about the high cost of higher education in America. And it is, indeed, quite expensive and getting more so at an alarming rate. For all that, though, at least we can say that America gets what it pays for in that we have the best higher education system in the world. In fact, it's one of our biggest exports, totaling more than $35 billion—fully 5 percent of America's export market—as of 2015. The same cannot be said for our primary and secondary education systems, with the US

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27:34

Episode 60: Social Security Is Doomed. Now What?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/04/04

There's no way to sugar-coat it. Social Security is going to fail. There are, of course, ways to possibly extend its life for a few years, or even decades, but ultimately, like all Ponzi schemes, it will collapse. By the federal government's and the Social Security Board of Trustees' own admissions, the Social Security program will be paying out more than it takes in in just 4 years. At current rates (and assuming the federal government fully pays back the more than $5 trillion it "borrowed" from

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25:26

Episode 59: Is Moderation the Next Big Thing in...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/03/28

Pundits are declaring that America is a nation divided. In fairness, this is a true statement, but it's not a new phenomenon. America has been a nation divided since at least the election of 1800. That said, the division is not a dichotomous one. Recent data show that a large and growing number of Americans self-identify as neither Republican nor Democrat, but as Independent. It would appear that a large number of Americans are growing increasingly tired of the ever-more extreme stances of the two

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25:27

Episode 58: Federal Spending Is Out of Control

Words & Numbers ·

2018/03/21

The American federal government has a serious spending problem. The federal debt, the sum total of all the money the government has borrowed, has hit $21 trillion, with a cool $1 trillion of that coming from Trump's first year in office. That is, undeniably, a lot of money, and media outlets all over the country are crowing about it being the first time a single-year deficit has been so high, but it simply isn't so. Even by fairly kind calculations, it's happened at least three times before—once

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26:03

Episode 57: Death for Dealing... Really?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/03/14

Rumors have been circulating recently that the Trump Administration is considering including drug dealing among those crimes that can be subject to capital punishment. That's just a nice way of saying "the death penalty." In an effort to signal to his supporters that he's "tough on crime" and serious about the opioid crisis, President Trump has indicated his positive view of the death penalty for drug offenses in countries like Singapore and the Philipines. But what is the current status of the

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29:14

Episode 56: Tariffs Hurt Everyone, So Why Have Them?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/03/07

Last week, President Trump announced his intention to place tariffs on steel and aluminum. Unfortunately for the president—and everyone else, should these tariffs be imposed—more than a century of economic data make it very clear that tariffs are a net negative for the economy. But what are tariffs, anyway? Why are they so awful? And, if they are, why does any country impose them? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they talk about this and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.

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30:26

Episode 55: Why Don't We Insure Guns Like We Insure Cars

Words & Numbers ·

2018/02/28

After the horrific school shooting in Parkland, FL, on February 14th, the "debate" about gun control has reignited in the US. Pundits on both sides of the issue are over-generalizing, taking assumptions to the extreme, and generally talking past each other. But one thing that remains constant is persistent cry for "common sense" gun regulations. What constitutes "common sense" varies from person to person, but they all involve the restriction or outright ban on certain types or styles of firearms

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29:11

Episode 54: Is College Really for All?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/02/21

In the last two and a half generations, the number of students who go on to attend college, as a percentage of the population, has tripled. In 1959, about 20 percent of high school students went on to college. Since relatively few people were earning degrees, having one all but guaranteed getting a good, high-paying job. As a result, parents, high schools, and colleges began encouraging more and more high school students to go to college. Today, about 60 percent of high school students go on to

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30:22

Episode 53: Has Uber Become Part of the System It...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/02/14

Regulatory capture is a problem in this country. It happens pretty easily. Politicians can't be experts in everything, so they turn to actual experts for help with regulating various industries. The experts tend to be those who have already enjoy some measure of success in their field. The regulatory suggestions that these experts give politicians tend to make life easier for the already-established experts and harder for those competing with them. This kind of thing happens all too often and leads

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28:13

Episode 52: Why Does Government Keep Expanding?

Words & Numbers ·

2018/02/07

The fact that the United States' yearly deficit spending is set to soon top $1 trillion — an amount that is itself larger than most governments' entire operating budget — might be an indicator that the federal government has gotten too large. No matter which party is in power, the federal government and its attendant spending never really ceases to grow. We're taught in school a rose-colored tale of selfless public servants righteously chosen by solemn, considering voters to go to Washington to

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25:58

Episode 51: America Relies on Immigrants

Words & Numbers ·

2018/01/31

Immigration is, as happens fairly routinely, an important topic in the national conversation these days. It's generally well-accepted that the United States is "a nation of immigrants," and yet there remains a stubborn skepticism about new immigrants. These concerns generally branch into two broad categories: economic concerns and social concerns. Economically, citizens seem to think that immigrants are "taking our jobs" or "a drain on the system." Socially, citizens are of the belief that

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26:46

Episode 50: Intentions Don't Matter — Outcomes Do

Words & Numbers ·

2018/01/24

Socialism is, whether we like it or not, in the national dialogue. And there are numerous people who claim to be socialists who, nevertheless, have a hard time defining what socialism actually is. Socialism, in it's purest form, indeed, has never been tried. But, by the same token, neither has undiluted capitalism. To understand which works better, we have to think about means and ends. Almost all of us want the same ends, but we disagree sharply as to the appropriate means. So how do we find the

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26:54

Episode 49: The Constitution Is Useless if We Don't...

Words & Numbers ·

2018/01/17

Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent the country into a tizzy not long ago when he declared that the federal government would start cracking down on state-legal marijuana. This is problematic, but it's a symptom of a larger problem. Article I, Section 8, of the US Constitution lists the things that the federal government may concern itself with. Marijuana — indeed, any drug — is not on that list. In fact, a great many things that the federal government concerns itself with are not on that list. So

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