EJW Audio

Dan Johansson on Economics without Entrepreneurship or Institutions

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.

Henry Hardy on Isaiah Berlin

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 on Housing Supply Liberalization and Recent Research

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.

Lars Magnusson on the History of Economic Thought in Sweden

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 on the New Deal and Economic Recovery

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.

Ivan Katchanovski on Maidan and Ukraine 2014

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.

Jeffrey Sachs, An Established Anti-Establishment Economist

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.

Nicolás Cachanosky on Liberalism in Argentina from 1816 to 1884

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.

Glenn Diesen on Russophobia from Cobden’s Time to Today

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 on Sharpe Ratios and Investing

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.