Words & Numbers

Latest Episodes:

Episode 82: Capitalism Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

The word “capitalism” has become incredibly loaded over the years. And since the term was actually popularized by Karl Marx to be the foil for his own ideology, that’s fairly understandable. It brings to mind all of the very worst aspects embodied by the elite, greedy, rent-seeking Gordon Geckos of the world, hoarding their capital resources like dragons on a pile of gold and profiting from the hard work of laborers while doing nothing productive themselves. This characterization, while incredibly common, is simply incorrect. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they discuss the actual meaning of capitalism and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

MIT study of commute times

Marchetti’s constant

Commute times in the 50 states

California requires companies to place women on boards

Foolishness of the Week:

Laura Ingraham wants Facebook to be a public utility

Topic of the Week: Capitalism:

Capitalism

Prices as signals

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Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

Words & Numbers Backstage

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Episode 81: Despite Its Rebranding, Socialism Is Still Horrific Aug 29, 2018

Show notes

We’re experiencing the rise of a new kind of socialist. The original definition of socialism—state ownership of the means of production—is beginning to fall by the wayside. What self-proclaimed socialists are asking for now is for the state to control the means of production. While this might seem like a pedantic distinction, it’s an important one. But the rebranding of socialism by democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez still fails to take into account the most important aspect of sound economics: human behavior. Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they drill down into the pitfalls of socialism and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Half the world will be middle-class by 2020

World poverty rates

Madsen Pirie

High schooler faces prison for shooting zombies

Foolishness of the week

NASCAR driver loses sponsorship for father’s remarks

Topic of the week: Socialism

Socialism

Theory of pervasive shortages under socialism

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Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

Words & Numbers Backstage

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Episode 80: You Can’t Make College Free Aug 22, 2018

Show notes

Everybody vaguely familiar with basic economic concepts knows that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. It’s a great phrase and speaks to the principles of both opportunity cost and scarcity. That said, a “free lunch” refers to more than your afternoon repast. Everything costs something. And if you end up paying zero dollars for it, that only means it was paid for by someone else. This holds true for college tuition. It may cost a student zero dollars, and that student will certainly benefit from not having to pay for higher education herself, but what’s really been done is shifting the cost from the student—who is actually using the service—to the taxpayers—who certainly aren’t. So while there’s certainly a big problem with student debt in America, the solution isn’t “free” tuition. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they get deep in the weeds about college tuition and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

11 year old hacker changes election results

California law would prohibit restaurants from listing soft drinks on menus

Foolishness of the Week

Cops taser 87 year-old woman

Topic of the Week: Public policy and financing higher education

Tuition discounting

Financing college through equity instead of debt

Student loan data

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Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

Words & Numbers Backstage

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Episode 79: How Not to Be Terrible at College Aug 15, 2018

Show notes

James and Ant have a lot of experience with both high school and college students. Most of the time, they’re extremely impressed with the high school students that they encounter. But something seems to be happening in the summer between high school graduation and beginning their first semester of college. Something… not ideal. And to a point, it’s perfectly natural. Young people are interested in exploring their newfound freedom, and that includes the amount of attention that they pay to their studies. Because of this, a great many otherwise intelligent students find themselves struggling with college. So, if you do decide to attend a college or university, how can you keep this from happening? Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as the explore this and more on this week’s episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Number of bachelor’s degrees conferred by field of study

Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

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Episode 78: Is a College Degree Worth the Cost? Aug 08, 2018

Show notes

As the back-to-school season gets into full swing, hundreds of thousands of young people are heading back to class at their chosen college or university. On average, the simple dollar cost of tuition and fees for a four-year degree is about a quarter of a million dollars. A large majority of students will have to take on some kind student loan debt to cover these costs. But we've been told our whole lives that in order to have a good job and successful career, a college degree is both necessary and an automatic golden ticket, so it has to be worth it. Right? Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan as they drill down into the value of a college degree and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Tuition and fees at 4-year institutions over time

30 million jobs in the US pay $55,000 per year and don’t require a college degree

High paying jobs sit empty while students go to college

Median income by education, 2017 (table 5)

Median income by education, 1997 (table 4)

Unemployment rate by education, 2017

Unemployment rate by education, 1997

Fraction of 15-24 year olds enrolled in college over time

Average pay by college major

FEE high school seminars

Social Media:

Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

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Episode 77: 'There Ought to Be a Law’: What that Phrase Actually Means Aug 01, 2018

Show notes

People tend to have a strange blind spot when it comes to government. We—or a lot of us, at least—tend to assume the best of intentions from our government. Our fellow civilians garner suspicion, but our elected officials are somehow magically benevolent and altruistic. When governments misbehave and act violently, we tend to think about these actions in terms of warfare. And yes, in the 20th century alone, wars have killed around 106 million people. That's a lot and not to be discounted. But in the same timeframe, governments have killed at least that many—and probably more like twice that number—within the confines of their own borders. We forget that a government is a monopoly on the use of force, and every time we ask our government to do something, even something as innocuous as putting up parking meters, what we're really asking them to do is to bring their force—their violence—to bear on our behalf. It's a sobering thought. Join James Harrigan and Antony Davies as they dive deep into this subject and more on this week's episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Venezuela’s 1,000,000% inflation

Seattle’s street cars too big for their tracks

Foolishness of the week

Bank of America loses customers’ safe deposit boxes

Topic of the week: How many people do governments kill?

Soviet Union kills 20 million of its own citizens

China kills 65 million of its own citizens

Cambodia kills 1.5 to 3 million of its own citizens

20th century democide

Less than 500,000 people murdered worldwide annually by non-governments

US incarceration rates 1960-2012

Incarceration rates across countries

7 million Americans either in prison, on probation or parole

How We Thrive documentary

Antony Davies on Twitter

James R. Harrigan on Twitter

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Episode 76: Real Numbers Behind Public’s Biggest Concerns Jul 25, 2018

Show notes

Gallup recently asked 1,000 people about what the most important issue we’re dealing with is in the United States. You might think that the majority answered drugs and gun control, but you’d be wrong. Instead, the survey found that drugs only received 1% of votes as being the biggest issue, and a whopping 2% for gun rights, with those numbers only going as high as 4% since January. The only time those numbers changed was in March, when the media massively promoted the gun rights debate, culminating into the already-forgotten March for Our Lives movement. As much as we criticize the media, these numbers show how much they manufacture sensationalism. Join us this week as we discuss open-ended polls and the influence of media on people’s issues with James Harrigan and Antony Davies.

Show Notes:

Diamonds worth $31 septillion

Jeff Bezos worth $150 billion

Doctors give patients seconds

Foolishness of the week

Congressman calls for ban on cryptocurrency

Topic of the week: What’s the largest problem facing the country?

Gallup poll

School shootings not as common as the media portrays

Gun violence waning

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Episode 75: If You Want Prosperity for All, Try Economic Freedom Jul 18, 2018

Show notes

There are many people in this world who like to make the argument, "Correlation is not causation." And this oft-used expression is true. Correlation is not, in fact, causation. Just because two things tend to happen at about the same time does not necessarily mean that they have anything to do with each other at all. That said, lack of correlation does mean lack of causation. So what does that mean for economic freedom and "good" social outcomes? Join James and Antony as they unpack what economic freedom indices indicate and more on this episode of Words and Numbers.

Show Notes:

Employment rate almost full recovered from 2008 crash

TSA gets immunity

Foolishness of the week

Starbucks’ straws

Topic of the week: Economic Freedom

Equality, Liberty, and Prosperity

Fraser: Economic Freedom of the World

Fraser: Economic Freedom of North America

Heritage/WSJ: Index of Economic Freedom

Cato: Freedom in the 50 States

Antony on Twitter

James on Twitter

Words & Numbers - Backstage

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Episode 74: Should the Supreme Court Matter So Much? Jul 11, 2018

Show notes

Why are we debating the Supreme Court nominees as much as we are? Unbelievably, written requirements of the Supreme Court are non-existent. Where the Constitution lists age and experience requirements for both presidential and congressional candidates, only a tiny paragraph describes what the third branch of government should look like. All of those standards and regulations you think are law? None have been put in writing anywhere. In fact, judicial review, one of the most important parts of a Supreme Court Justice’s job, only started in 1803, established following the ruling of Marbury v. Madison. Join Antony Davies and James Harrigan this week as they discuss the surprising standards set for Supreme Court Justice candidates.

Show Notes:

North Korea executes a General for giving food to soldiers’ families

The United States fines people for giving food to the poor

Black men are succeeding in America

Foolishness of the week

Americans ask the FAA to regulate seat size

Topic of the week: The Supreme Court

Sotomayor on the idea of a living constitution

Scalia on the idea of a living constitution Congressional job approval

Agreement rates among Supreme Court Justices

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Episode 73: How Politics Distorts Our Perceptions Jul 04, 2018

Show notes

What do you know about the political party you disagree with the most? Who do you think makes the group up? Is it a bunch of “libtard snowflakes” who are all union-backed? Or is it a bunch of offensive alt-right wackos with too much money to know what to do with it? Either way, those perceptions are both completely off-base—caricatural, even—and dangerous. A study, titled, “The Parties in our Heads: Misperceptions About Party Composition and Their Consequences” discusses exactly how Democrats and Republicans perceive both themselves and each other, and shows exactly how inaccurate those perceptions are. From exaggerated numbers of union-affiliated democrats to impossible statistics of Republicans who make more than $250,000 per year, join us as we discuss the dangers of political misrepresentation and more in this week’s episode of Words and Numbers with James Harrigan and Antony Davies.

Show Notes:

Harley Davidson moving overseas

Largest U.S. nail manufacturer on brink of extinction

FDA approves marijuana-based drug

Foolishness of the week

US is the 10th most dangerous country for women

John Cleese and the BBC

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Topic of the week

Each party is wrong about the other

The Parties in Our Heads: Misperceptions about Party Composition and Their Consequences

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