Tomorrow is Bryan Caplan’s last day as a blogger on EconLog. I will sorely miss him.
There’s so much I’ll miss: his clear thinking, his frequent insights, many of which are surprising, and his positive attitude to life.
I could highlight a lot of his blog posts, but then this tribute would turn overly long.
Instead, I’ll highlight two major things that I’ve learned from his blogging.
The first is the importance of the Social Desirability Bias. I’m someone who speaks my mind on pretty much any issue, no matter how much pressure there is not to do so. So it was hard for me to grok why I was so often alone even though people would come up to me at an event, look furtively around, and tell me in low decibels that they basically agreed with what I had just said. Now I do understand: it’s Social Desirability Bias. They are afraid to come out openly and say what they think.
The second is the Ideological Turing Test. Not very many people in economics come up with terms that are widely used. I’m still working for people to refer to the part of the capital gains tax on the inflation component of capital gains as a “tax on phantom gains.” So far no takers. I’ve made only a little progress in getting people to be understood by non-economists when they want to discuss rent seeking. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with rent seeking, if you keep the full economic meaning of “rent.” I want to call it “privilege seeking,” which is more apt.
But Bryan, well before age 50, introduced the term “Ideological Turing Test” and it is often used. It’s a great term. In that sense, he’s kind of like my mentor Harold Demsetz, who coined the term “Nirvana approach,” which has morphed into the widely used “Nirvana Fallacy.” Good on ya, Bryan bro.
READER COMMENTS
Scott Sumner
Feb 28 2022 at 1:39am
My favorites were Bryan’s case against education and his arguments for open borders.
He will certainly be missed.
Kevin Corcoran
Feb 28 2022 at 5:42pm
I read The Myth of the Rational Voter back when it was first released. Bryan’s model of rational irrationality was one of those rare ideas that seemed brilliant once grasped, yet so obvious in retrospect that you wonder why you never saw it before. His work has always been though provoking, even when I ultimately disagree with him. While I’m sad to see him go, I’m glad to know his work will continue – and I’ll be continuing to learn from his insights.
Jeff B
Feb 28 2022 at 11:01pm
I think a link from KMW at Reason to one of Bryan’s essays is what brought me here originally. I was quickly hooked on the rest of the blog for the past many years, including the EconTalk I love listening to every week (and Arnold too, who I continue to follow as well)
Thank you & good luck Bryan! I look forward to your next graphic novel 🙂
Knut P. Heen
Mar 1 2022 at 4:18am
It is also easy to remember the name of his new blog. I bet I won’t forget it.
Michael Stack
Mar 1 2022 at 3:33pm
I always have enjoyed Bryan’s fearless attitude; looking for the truth, whatever it may be.
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