PODCAST

The Curious Task

Institute for Liberal Studies

We explore philosophy, politics, economics, and other ideas from a classical liberal perspective.

education social sciences

All Episodes

01:10:48

Ep. 240: Rosolino Candela - What Is The Morality Of...

The Curious Task ·

2024/07/31

Alex speaks with Rosolino Candela about the morality and dynamics of illicit markets, focusing on the transition from central planning to privatization in post-Soviet Russia and the role of property rights in shaping economic behaviors and attitudes.References: Rosolino's Website - https://www.rcandela.com/ Timothy Fry - Property Rights and Property Wrongs - https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316661727 Peter Boettke - Economic History and Soviet System -

01:08:56

Ep. 239: Matt Zwolinski - What Is Bleeding Heart...

The Curious Task ·

2024/07/24

Matt speaks with Matt Zwolinski about Bleeding Heart Libertarianism and the diverse perspectives within libertarian thought, discussing its history, philosophical foundations, and contemporary issues, including debates on social justice, individual rights, and the role of government.References: The BHL blog: https://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/ Hayek on SEP including his thoughts on social justice and libertarianism: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/friedrich-hayek/ John Tomasi and Matt

01:13:16

Ep. 238: Chris Coyne - How Do You Run A War?

The Curious Task ·

2024/07/17

Alex speaks with Chris Coyne about the complexities and ramifications of war, focusing on the interplay between media narratives, propaganda, and the impact on civil liberties, drawing insights from Coyne's book co-authored with Abigail Hall, which is a satirical guide on war strategies and their broader societal implications.Episode Notes: Chris and Abigail's book "How to Run Wars": https://www.independent.org/store/book.asp?id=145 1. Bruce Winton Knight's "How To Run A War":

58:58

Ep. 237: Greta Lynn Uehling - What Happens To...

The Curious Task ·

2024/07/10

Sabine speaks with Greta Lynn Uehling about her research on the effects of war on relationships, an underexplored topic in conflict studies.Episode Notes: - Greta's book "Everyday War": https://a.co/d/09MHkjov - Homer's "The Illiad": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad - Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv: knu.ua - A primer on the concept of "Everyday Peace": https://heller.brandeis.edu/news/items/releases/2019/winter-2019-magazine-everyday-peace.html - The UNICEF report on Mental

01:06:20

Ep. 236: Marc-William Palen - Were There Left-Wing...

The Curious Task ·

2024/07/03

Alex speaks with Marc-William Palen about the evolution of left-wing visions of free trade from the mid-19th century through the Cold War, highlighting key movements and figures like the Anti-Corn Law League, Karl Marx, and the Fair Trade movement, and contrasting these with protectionist and imperialist policies of the era.Episode Notes: Marc-William's book "Pax Economica: Left-Wing Visions of a Free Trade World": https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691199320/pax-economica Marx on Free

59:30

Ep. 235: Joanna Baron - Did The Pandemic Undermine...

The Curious Task ·

2024/06/26

Matt speaks with Joanna Baron about how government measures during the pandemic undermined civil liberties in North America and beyond. Episode Notes: - Brian Bird's PhD Thesis: https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/4j03d4180 - Fraser Institute: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/ - The Forgotten Fundamental Freedoms - Dwight G. Newman https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3803888 - Joanna's book with Christine Van Geyn "Pandemic Panic: How Canadian Government Responses to

01:30:20

Ep. 234: Jonathan Blanks - What Is Systemic Racism?

The Curious Task ·

2024/06/19

Sabine speaks with Jonathan Blanks about why and how systemic racism exists in society, and what can potentially be done to curb it in various aspects of institutional life. Episode Notes: - The Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity: https://freopp.org/ - An article by Jonathan on defining systemic racism: https://freopp.org/what-systemic-racism-is-and-isnt-1213c1c972ff - Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America (2015) by Jill Leovy https://a.co/d/8f9JGqB - The Thirteenth trailer:

01:17:00

Ep. 233: Kevin Erdmann - Why Are We Afraid Of...

The Curious Task ·

2024/06/12

Alex speaks with Kevin Erdmann about how zoning, the 2008 economic crisis, and the desire to live away from "those people" is effecting the state of housing today. Episode Notes: Kevin's page at the Mercatus Centre: https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/kevin-erdmann The Erdmann Housing Tracker: https://kevinerdmann.substack.com/ Kevin on X: https://x.com/KAErdmann?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Kevin's book "Shut Out" on Amazon Canada: https://a.co/d/gIh82Og

01:12:16

Ep. 232: Dominic Parker - Do Environmental Agencies...

The Curious Task ·

2024/06/05

Alex speaks with Dominic Parker about his 2023 paper with Dean Lueck entitled "The Economic Origins And Extent Of America's First Environmental Agencies"Episode Notes: Dominic's paper: https://aae.wisc.edu/dparker/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2023/12/Lueck-Parker-Origins-December-2023.pdf Some history on the conservation movement from 1850-1920 via the American Library of Congress: https://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20220203190507/https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html

01:04:48

Ep. 231: Ryan Bourne - Is There A War On Prices?

The Curious Task ·

2024/05/29

Alex speaks with Ryan Bourne as he explores the misconceptions around inflation and the dangers of price controls, emphasizing how prices act as signals to coordinate economic activity and promote growth. Ryan explains the adverse effects of government intervention in setting prices, such as shortages, quality declines, black markets, and inefficient resource allocation.Episode Notes: - Ryan’s book that serves as the basis for most of the discussion: https://a.co/d/6B4n1Uf - Summary of

57:14

Ep. 230: Kent Roach - Does Canada Have A Wrongful...

The Curious Task ·

2024/05/22

Alex speaks with Donner prize nominee Kent Roach about a topic that many Canadians may overlook when thinking about issues that are recurring at home: wrongful convictions and its victims. Episode Notes: - Kent's award-winning book "Wrongfully Convicted: Guilty Pleas, Imagined Crimes, and What Canada Must Do to Safeguard Justice" https://a.co/d/d9mB5cN - Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions: https://www.wrongfulconvictions.ca/ - The Innocence Project at Cardozo:

01:06:24

Ep. 229: Ethan Nadelmann - Has Drug Decriminalization...

The Curious Task ·

2024/05/15

Matt speaks with Ethan Nadelmann about drug decriminalization, legalization, and the slow end to the drug war in Canada and the United States, and how successes and failures in both countries compare to those abroad. Episode Notes: The Drug Policy Alliance website: https://drugpolicy.org/ Some history on Portugal's Drug Harm Reduction Programs: https://americanaddictioncenters.org/blog/portugals-harm-reduction-policies Philip Owen's obituary highlighting some of his successes in Vancouver as mayor:

01:06:56

Ep. 228: Craig Biddle - What Is Objectivism?

The Curious Task ·

2024/05/08

Matt speaks with Craig Biddle about objectivism and the legacy of Ayn Rand, and how it all ties to classical liberalism, the American ideal, and post-modernism. Episode Notes: Craig's work for the Objective Standard: https://theobjectivestandard.com/author/cbiddle/ Craig on X: https://twitter.com/CraigBiddle Free Ayn Rand books courtesy of the Ayn Rand Institute, including almost all of those referenced throughout this episode: https://aynrand.org/students/free-books/ Craig's talk "Choosing a

01:16:01

Ep. 227: Bryce Tingle - How Are Regulations Damaging...

The Curious Task ·

2024/05/01

Alex speaks with Bryce Tingle about corporations, how these unique legal entities are governed, how changes we have made to corporate governance has discouraged companies from joining Canada’s public markets, and how the decline in our public market is hurting Canadians. Episode Notes: 1.Bryce’s article “Returning Markets To The Centre Of Corporate Law” https://jcl.law.uiowa.edu/sites/jcl.law.uiowa.edu/files/2023-09/Tingle_Final.pdf 2.Bryce’s profile at UofCalgary

56:30

Ep. 226: Eric Merkley - What Motivates NIMBYs?

The Curious Task ·

2024/04/24

Matt speaks with Eric Merkley about NIMBYism, the surprising touchpoints for unity between left and right on the subject of housing, and how uncovering the true motivations of NIMBYs has altered Eric's view of the housing crisis. Episode Notes: "Housing for Me, but not for Thee", Eric's paper serving as the basis for most of this conversation: https://osf.io/preprints/7vmt3 Eric on X: https://twitter.com/EricMerkley Eric's article on the subject on Policy

01:01:44

Ep. 225: Ben Klutsey - How Do We Rebuild Trust?

The Curious Task ·

2024/04/17

Sabine speaks with Ben Klutsey about political polarization, commonalities between the United States and Canada, and his documentary on the subject entitled "Undivide Us" Episode Notes: The documentary's website with more information, a trailer and the option to request a screening: https://undivideusmovie.com/ Kevin Vallier's "Trust in a Polarized Age": https://a.co/d/gDm6pjz John Inazu's "Learning To Disagree": https://a.co/d/1OmKckQ Kevin Vallier on the Curious

01:07:58

Ep. 224: Rachael LaRose - What Happened To Our...

The Curious Task ·

2024/04/10

Alex speaks with Rachael LaRose about the hidden costs of the pandemic, especially as they effected our commercial relationships, loose ties with individuals that once provided much value to our lives, and orthodox communities who rallied to prioritize faith in the face of fear.Episode Notes: - Rachael's webpage with past publications, etc.: https://www.rachaelbehr.com/ - "The Strength of Weak Ties" Mark S. Granovetter https://www.jstor.org/stable/2776392 - A summary of Ostrom's work on the

01:13:06

Ep. 223: Sam Bowman - Why Can't We Have Nice Things?

The Curious Task ·

2024/04/03

Matt speaks with Sam Bowman about the global housing crisis and why, in English-speaking countries in particular, a growing consensus across the political divide is pointing to problems with central planning, NIMBYism and a supply limit as the causes. Episode Notes: Sam Bowman’s on substack: https://substack.com/@sambowman Sam on "Vetocracy": https://www.sambowman.co/p/democracy-is-the-solution-to-vetocracy Sam’s “Housing Theory of Everything” article:

55:40

Ep. 222: Akshaya Kamalnath - Does Corporate Diversity...

The Curious Task ·

2024/03/27

Alex speaks with Akshaya Kamalnath about her work on Corporate Diversity, the social pressures and cultural trends that corporations are facing, as well as the jurisdictional realities of handling diversity, amongst other issues.Episode Notes: Akshaya's page at ANU: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/kamalnath-a Akshaya's blog: corporatelawacademic.wordpress.com "Legal and Market Initiatives to Increase Diversity in Corporations—A Cross-Jurisdictional Analysis" by Akshaya

01:04:54

Deirdre McCloskey - Why Does Liberalism Work?

The Curious Task ·

2024/03/20

In May 2022, Alex spoke with Deirdre McCloskey in a wide-ranging conversation that addresses the economic, philosophical, and political reasons why liberalism just works. We're reposting that important conversation today on The Curious Task.

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