In a recent EconTalk podcast, Russell Roberts interviews Michele Boldrin about his intellectual property views. Though Boldrin is not an Austrian, the interview is fascinating and compelling. Roberts and Boldrin both have refreshingly libertarian views. I was by Boldrin’s comments about the “Good” versus the “Bad” Schumpeter; and by their extended discussion of the nature of competition, and why practically implementable ideas are not public goods. I’m hoping someday more work is done along the lines Jeff Tucker suggested:
“As I’ve thought more about their book, it seems that it might suggest a revision in classical-liberal theory. We have traditionally thought that cooperation and competition were the two pillars of social order; a third could be added: emulation. In addition, there is surely work to do here that integrates Hayek’s theory of knowledge with the problem of IP.”
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Hi Professor Kinsella,
How libertarian is Russ Roberts? He does favor having the Fed…as long as it keeps the money supply constant. Didn’t Hayek warn against a fiat currency- even under stable supply conditions?
Roberts admits, in add, that the central bank is similar to the Supreme Court in that it has to deal with (submit to?) public opinion. Given that the Fed is not a market institution, but quite the opposite really, does any supporter of such a privileged cartel deserve a moniker (that should be) associated with the highest form of freedom?
Dan, while I have listened to a lot of Russ Roberts’ podcasts, I haven’t heard him explicitly favor the Fed. Perhaps he holds a view similar to that of Milton Friedman, but based on this conversation you can tell he strongly liberty leaning and willing to change his mind. If you’ve got any really good anti-Fed/anti-fiat money/Austrian sources you should send them to him. Maybe he’ll even invite you on his show.
I’ve listened to nearly all of the episodes of econtalk and regularly read his blog at CafeHayek.com and I don’t remember him ever endorsing the Fed. Although he was a student at Chicago and was a student of Friedman at one point if I recall, so I’m not sure of his views on the Fed.
Either way, he runs an excellent podcast and blog, and he’s very friendly to the Austrian perspective.
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