Dan Sutter, an economist who heads the Manuel Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University, interviewed me in June about my recent article in Reason titled “Economic Lessons from COVID-19,” Reason, June 2021.

The 30-minute interview is up.

Some highlights:

3:00: How incentives matter.

5:25: Extra federal unemployment benefits and a free summer vacation.

8:00: Opportunities for teenagers.

8:50: Mises, Hayek, and the socialist calculation debate.

9:50: Polanyi, The Tacit Dimension.

10:30: How the central planning insight applies to COVID.

12:00: How the private sector responded.

13:20: Value is subjective.

15:00: My value of going to my cottage.

16:00:  What my wife tells people that I do as an economist.

17:00: What’s wrong with one size fits all and why “We’re all in this together” is literally true but figuratively false.

19:15: Externalities.

20:50: What happens when the polluter pollutes himself.

21:40: Least-cost avoider.

22:20: Focus on elderly.

25:15: COVID vaccine–subsidies versus price controls.

29:00: My summary.