EJW Audio

An influential article by Jonathan Pekar and 28 other authors published in Science in 2022 claimed that Bayesian analysis of the molecular phylogeny of early SARS-CoV-2 cases indicated that the likelihood that two successful introductions to humans had occurred was greater than the likelihood that just one had occurred. Michael Weissman explains his EJW article, which discusses a fundamental error hiding in plain sight and initially pointed out by Angus McCowan. Weissman uses a simple analogy to explain the error. Correcting the error using the data, model, and simulations of the original paper reverses the implication of the analysis-the single-introduction likelihood becomes greater than the two-introductions likelihood. That undermines the article’s supposed support for natural origin. Weissman is interviewed by James M. Robins of Harvard University. Weissman and Robins discuss the editorial practices at Science, which, they suggest, ought to retract the article.

Dan Johansson discusses his 2004 vocabulary analysis of graduate textbooks used in economics programs. He investigated their treatment of two sets of ideas. One is knowledge and discovery: entrepreneur, innovation, invention, tacit knowledge, and bounded rationality. The other deals with social rules: institutions, property rights, and economic freedom. Today, mainstream economics gives more attention to institutions, property rights, and economic freedom. But the textbooks remain pretty much the same today, and the mainstream generally continues to neglect entrepreneurship, discovery, and the richness of knowledge.

The writings of Isaiah Berlin (1909–1997), now published chiefly by Princeton University Press, have in large part been brought to light thanks to the work—over five decades—of Henry Hardy. A Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, Hardy discusses Berlin’s life, work, and thoughts. Hardy maintains The Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library (link). Selections from Berlin on Karl Marx were republished in Econ Journal Watch in September 2025 (here and here). Hardy’s book In Search of Isaiah Berlin: A Literary Adventure (2018, Amazon link) tells of his own interaction with Berlin and his writings.

Jason Sorens discusses his article about three recent papers that might lend support to opponents of liberalization. One paper finds that housing supply has no long-run effect on local rents, while two others find that restricting housing supply might translate into amenities. Sorens argues that the evidence so far still supports the conclusion that supply-side zoning liberalization typically lowers local rents over meaningful time horizons without generating disamenities substantial enough to overcome the welfare benefits of liberalization.

In 2022, Swedish historian of economic thought Lars Magnusson published a major book (in Swedish) about Swedish economic thought, from the late Middle Ages to the mid 19th century. The title (in English): From Medieval Provincial Law to State Liberalism: Economic Thought in Sweden. One theme is that proto-liberal thinking, often mixed in varying degrees with so-called mercantilist tendencies, marks Swedish thinkers both before and contemporary with Adam Smith. Another theme is the more thorough classical-liberal challenge to mercantilism from Anders Chydenius in the second half of the eighteenth century. Also, Magnusson limns a ‘pragmatic’ liberal vein in Swedish economic thought in the 19th century. EJW published a a review essay by Max Skjönsberg, who interviews Magnusson here.

George Selgin discusses his book False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947 (University of Chicago Press, 2025), which was treated to a review essay by Jason Taylor in the March 2025 issue of Econ Journal Watch.

Professor Ivan Katchanovski discusses his article examining the Maidan massacre and the ouster of President Yanukovych in Ukraine in 2014.   This interview is conducted by Professor Glenn Diesen and is available on YouTube with video and subtitles here.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University is interviewed by Daniel Klein about being an economist, his favorite economists, his economist mentors, and his thoughts about the economics profession today. The conversation turns to his own ideological outlook and whether it has changed over the decades, and, then, to US foreign policy, particularly with respect to Russia.

Drawing on his EJW article coauthored with Alejandro Goméz, Nicolás Cachanosky guides us through classical liberalism at work in Argentina from 1816 to 1884. The authors shall be bringing the Argentine story up to the present in a sequel that is forthcoming.

Professor Glenn Diesen discusses Russophobia historically considered. He is the author of Russophobia: Propaganda in International Politics (2022). The discussion takes its point of departure with Richard Cobden’s “Cure for the Russo-phobia” pamphlet (1836), an abridged version of which is published in EJW.

Michael O’Connor is interviewed by David Barker on O’Connor’s major critique of the use of Sharpe ratios in hypothesis testing and investing. O’Connor cautions against relying on Sharpe ratios when choosing investments.

John Hand discusses his EJW article coauthored with Jeremiah Green, a quasi-replication of a series of studies by the consulting firm McKinsey, on firm performance and executive race/ethnic diversity. Green and Hand find no statistically significant relationship whereas the McKinsey studies find a positive relationship. Professor Hand is interviewed by David Barker.

Dan Klein tells of the EJW series Classical Liberalism by Country and draws lessons about liberal civic virtue. His remarks are based on a published Introduction to the project. The series is ongoing. All of the EJW articles are accessible here. Twenty-three of the articles were republished (often with postscripts added) in 2023 in three volumes by CL Press: Volume 1 (six nations plus Klein’s introduction), Volume 2 (seven chapters on Latin American nations), Volume 3 (ten chapters on European nations).

Edwin van de Haar discusses the classical liberal movements in the Netherlands from the Dutch Golden Age, through the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and down to today. His discussion is based on his EJW article, which extends the Classical Liberalism in Econ, by Country series.

Paul Robinson is the author of Russian Liberalism, published by Northern Illinois University Press, due September 2023. Robinson is Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa. In the podcast, Professor Robinson also refers to his previous book Russian Conservatism, published 2019 by Northern Illinois University Press.

Vlad Tarko and Radu Nechita discuss their EJW article on liberalism in Romania, which is the latest contribution to the Classical Liberalism in Econ, by Country series.

Sheilagh Ogilvie, the Chicele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford, explains European guilds from 1000 to 1900. The topic relates to EJW’s publication of Vincent Gournay’s 1753 memorials against the exclusionary privileges enjoyed by guilds in Lyon, a 1758 squib against barber privileges in Edinburgh, as well as numerous items on modern occupational licensing (listed here).

Art Carden discusses his EJW article with Phil Magness vindicating William H. Hutt from “racism”/“white supremacism” charges leveled by William Darity, M’Balou Camara, and Nancy MacLean.

David Barker criticizes the article in Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, by Federal Reserve researchers, which concluded that climate change would have a large economic impact. Barker’s critique appeared in the September 2022 issue of EJW.

Illustrating with Sweden and economics, Eva Forslund and Magnus Henrekson explore the pull toward using English in academics, and the downsides, based on their EJW article from September 2022.

Drawing on his EJW article coauthored with Amelia Janaskie, Phil Magness criticizes Quinn Slobodian’s work on Ludwig von Mises and criticizes the Cambridge University Press journal Contemporary European History for failing to choose truth above falsehood.

Michael Weissman, a physicist, criticizes three papers published in Physical Review Physics Education Research, based on his EJW article published in March 2022.

Sebastián Rodríguez discusses his article with Gilberto Ramírez on liberalism in Colombia, which is the 22nd article in the Classical Liberalism in Econ, by Country series.

Echoing Gunnar Myrdal, Dan Klein praises ideological disclosure, viewing it as similar to the disclosure of vested interests. He shares survey results, published in The Independent Review, showing that most economists like it when an author tells where she is coming from. Klein draws also on an EJW article, featuring quotations from Myrdal, and an Economic Affairs article.

Benoît Malbranque discusses an early statement of the laissez-faire principle that emphasized the impossibility of the state gathering sufficient knowledge to improve the outcome of free trade enterprise. He links it to earlier and later intellectual developments in liberal economic thought. His EJW contribution discussed in this podcast appeared in the September 2021 issue.

Jens Grandell discusses the rise of liberal ideas in Finland over the 19th century, and the role of language—Finnish versus Swedish—in making an independent country of Finland to stand against Russian hegemony. The conversation is based on Grandell’s article in EJW.

Austin Sandler finds that an ill-founded rule is being mechanically applied in anthropometry to discard datasets, and he argues that it harms science and society. His EJW article discussed in this podcast appeared in the March 2021 issue.

Enrique Guerra-Pujol discusses the primary source evidence about Adam Smith’s love life, what to make of it, and why we care. The conversation is based on his EJW article “Adam Smith in Love.”

Lucas Berlanza discusses the rich history of Brazil, its “patrimonial” politics, and its veins of liberalism, based on his EJW article “Liberalism in Brazil.”

Building on his EJW article, Scott Drylie reads Adam Smith on schooling and government, and the secondary literature. He challenges the orthodox view, which paints Smith as plainly favorable to government involvement in schooling.

Karen Horn and Stefan Kolev led a group effort to produce the first-ever English translation of Carl Menger’s The Errors of Historicism in German Economics. Here, Horn and Kolev describe Menger’s conflict with Gustav Schmoller, leader of the Younger German Historical School—a conflict known as the Methodenstreit.

Arnold Kling is interviewed by econometrician Brendan Beare about his EJW article on the sage who took the con out of econometrics.

Evan Osborne discusses Joan Robinson’s communism and how it has been treated by scholars, based on his EJW article “Captive of One’s Own Theory: Joan Robinson and Maoist China.”

Nicholas Curott discusses six leading undergraduate textbooks in money and banking, based on the thorough EJW article coauthored with Tyler Watts and Benjamin Thrasher. The authors find quite consistent government-cheerleading bias.

Young Back Choi provides a crash course in Korean political history and the role of liberalism, up to the present, based on his EJW article coauthored with Yong Yoon.

Martin van Staden, of the Free Market Foundation in Johannesburg, discusses his article on classical liberalism in South Africa during the period 1910–2019. He is interviewed by the Cato Institute’s Marian Tupy, a South African expat.

Ron Michener explains his belief that cliometricians are getting colonial money wrong, and in ways that prevent a proper understanding of the why the American colonies rebelled against England. The discussion is based on his EJW article that focuses on Farley Grubb’s article in the Journal of Economic History.

Patrick Mardini discusses the history of Lebanon and struggles for freer enterprise there, based on his article for the EJW series on Classical Liberalism in Econ, by Country. Dr. Mardini is now President of the Lebanese Institute for Market Studies.

UCLA finance professor Ivo Welch discusses the prestigious journal that he founded and edits, Critical Finance Review, a journal of critical commentary in the scholarly field of finance.

James Forder explains one of the reasons Milton Friedman received the Nobel prize: his early insight on the complexities of stabilization policy. The interview is based on Forder’s article coauthored with Hugo Monnery.

Leo Krasnozhon discusses the history and current status of liberal currents in Ukraine, based on his EJW article with Mykola Bunyk.

John W. Cairns of the University of Edinburgh discusses the remarkable pamphlet that in 1758 roasted barbers’ claim to an exclusive privilege to cut hair.

New light has been shed on Friedrich Hayek’s divorce and second marriage, his move to the United States, and his position at the University of Chicago. Lanny Ebenstein explains these matters and their interrelations, based on his EJW article.

Dwight Lee discusses the ancestral band, Hayek’s two-worlds hypothesis, and teaching economics, based on his EJW article co-authored with J. R. Clark “Econ 101 Morality: The Amiable, the Mundane, and the Market.”

Patricia Saenz-Armstrong describes “the other path” in Peru—the liberal path—following on her contribution to the Classical Liberalism in Econ, by Country series. She is interviewed by fellow Peru native and George Mason University professor Cesar Martinelli.

Daniel Sutter discusses propagandistic research by DOE, regarding (1) how mindful Americans are about household energy efficiency and (2) justifications for mandating renewable fuels in electricity production, as treated in his EJW article.

George DeMartino discusses the emergent field of professional economic ethics—its topics, themes, and numerous nudges for practitioners—as explored in The Oxford Handbook of Professional Economic Ethics (2016), edited by him and Deirdre McCloskey. The conversation relates to their reply to a review essay of the Handbook.

Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847) is rediscovered with the new book Freedom in Sweden: Selected Works of Erik Gustaf Geijer (2017). The editor Björn Hasselgren here discusses Geijer’s life and works, including the wonderful “An Economic Dream,” reprinted in EJW.

Drawing on his paper coauthored with Xingyuan Feng and Weisen Li, Evan Osborne discusses the history and current trends of liberal thought and policy reform in China.

Jeff Hummel discusses Kenneth Rogoff’s The Curse of Cash. Hummel’s review of the book, along with a response from Rogoff, appeared in the May 2017 issue of EJW.