Consulting by RPM || Free Advice Blog

Steve Landsburg: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

I have been so busy that I forgot to name-drop that during my recent trip to Rochester, I had a candlelit dinner (not of our request) with Steve Landsburg in the hotel restaurant. One of the most interesting points of discussion (which he gave me permission to mention) was that he had gone through not one, but two phone interviews with the people from the Colbert Report when one of his books came out. (I’m assuming More Sex Is Safer Sex, but Steve can correct me in the comments.)

Apparently, Steve didn’t give them what they wanted, since he was never on the show. But holy cow, it never occurred to me that they have an extensive screening process to get on such coveted shows. And if you did get on the show (or the Daily Show), you would be torn because on the one hand, you’d want to show them you could be funny too, but on the other hand, when most people go on such shows trying to be funny, it bombs.

Anyway, if you are interested in free-market economics and have never read Landsburg’s older stuff, I highly recommend it. It’s not even that I necessarily agree with it all–in fact, most of my internet writings on Landsburg have been critiques–but that he takes very clear positions and so if you think he’s wrong, you can go through and convince yourself what step in his argument is at fault. You walk away knowing your own position better.

For those who think Landsburg is a softie, check out how radical some of these quotes are from one of his books. I’ll simply reproduce a blog post I did in 2008 on Crash Landing:

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In the past, I have been known to criticize University of Rochester economist Steven Landsburg (one, two, and three). We can only speculate as to the source of my criticism; jealousy over Landsburg’s column in Slate is surely a factor.

I am happy to report that all is forgiven, because Landsburg’s Fair Play is a remarkably radical book. The subtitle is “What Your Child Can Teach You About Economics, Values, and the Meaning of Life.” The format of the book is Landsburg relaying anecdotes involving his daughter, and how these lessons/conversations relate to economic principles.

In terms of fun analyses that will make an econ geek think, this book isn’t as fruitful as his earlier book, The Armchair Economist. However, extreme libertarians will be pleasantly surprised at some of the positions Landsburg takes in FP.

Rather than giving an official review, I’ll just reproduce some of the better quotations below:

[My daughter Cayley’s] teachers have pronounced from on high that because water is valuable to others, we should be exceptionally frugal with it…[Yet] teachers rarely argue that “because building supplies are valuable to others, we ought to build fewer schools”; even more rarely do they argue that “because skilled workers are valuable in industry, we ought to have fewer teachers.” (p. 26)

Jim Crow was (among other things) a barrier to trade between the races. And economists know that barriers to trade are generally detrimental to both populations. Whites who were discouraged from serving black customers, or patronizing black businesses, or hiring black workers, or working for black employers, were victims of Jim Crow, just as their black counterparts were. To argue otherwise would be bad economics. It would also be racist. Jim Crow prevented blacks from dealing with whites, and it also prevented whites from dealing with blacks. Who would want to argue that being denied the right to trade with white people is a form of oppression, but being denied the right to trade with black people is no big deal? (pp. 131-132).