Person
Bryan Caplan's books and book recommendations
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Bryan Caplan appears on, in one place — not just one.
Bryan Douglas Caplan is an American economist and author. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and a former contributor to the Freakonomics blog. He currently publishes his own blog, Bet on It. Caplan is a self-described economic libertarian, and the bulk of his academic work is in behavioral economics and public economics, especially public choice theory. Appearing on EconTalk and the Dwarkesh Podcast, Caplan discussed various economic and housing topics alongside relevant literature. He referenced Katherine Levine Einstein, David M. Glick, and Maxwell Palmer's book Neighborhood Defenders during a conversation about land use meetings and local opposition to development. He also referenced Bernard H. Siegan's famous book Land Use without Zoning to explain how Houston operates with minimal land-use regulations. Additionally, Caplan discussed his own book, Open Borders, co-authored with Zach Weinersmith, recounting his trip to Eastern Europe and how the work had been translated into Polish, Hungarian, and Czech.
Books by Bryan Caplan
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The Myth of the Rational Voter
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The Case against Education
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Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids
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Open Borders
Books recommended by Bryan Caplan
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Land Use without Zoning
Discussed“here's this famous book called land use without zoning by Bernard Sean where he made the point of yes so Houston really barely has any regulation of that sort that”
Where to get it
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Neighborhood Defenders
Neighborhood Defenders by Katherine Levine Einstein, David M.
Discussed“I don't remember you might have actually interviewed them the neighborhood Defenders did you interview the authors of that book I don't remember who wrote it uh so it's three authors one of them last name Einstein so that one's memorable but anyway uh this is a book where they actually got transcripts from pretty much all the land meetings”
Where to get it
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Open Borders
Open Borders by Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith is a graphic novel exploring the economics and philosophy of global migration.
Discussed“What happened actually was that my open borders have been translated into three Eastern European languages, been translated into Polish, Hungarian, and Czech.”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Why Housing Is Artificially Expensive and What Can Be Done About It (with Bryan Caplan) | EconTalk | 2024-10-21 | 2 |
| Bryan Caplan - Feminists, Billionaires, and Demagogues | Dwarkesh Podcast | 2022-10-20 | 1 |
Other mentions (8: passing, ad reads, own books)
“So, I have a book called The Case Against Education.”
“So, in open borders, I go over what I consider to be the most powerful argument in favor of immigration.”
“Uh so since I am the author of open orders, you can definitely predict that I would say ah well letting in a lot of refugees won't be a big deal.”
“Um, again, of course, I do have that chapter on Kio Solutions where I try to meet people who disagree halfway.”
“so just to back up elio so when I say in the case in that case against education is that the main reason why education pays the labor market is not that you learn useful job skills but rather that you get a stamp on your forehead certifying you as a high quality worker”
“and also say I had no really good excuse because around that same time I did read Dale Carnegie's classic how to win friends and influence people and when I read it I knew it was true”
“and by the way also open borders is a great book for kids so if you're doing an emergency homeschool and you can't find anything your kids want to read and you want them to read something of substance let me throw my hat in the ring and say it when orders could be the book for you”
“so I have whole book on this called the myth of the rational voter why democracies choose bad policies in the book I just go over all the evidence on what does the public actually believe about economics”