Bryan Caplan on Learning across Disciplines (Live at Mason Econ)
Conversations with Tyler
Conversations with Tyler
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2018
⏱️ 72 minutes
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Summary
"No single paper is that good", says Bryan Caplan. To really understand a topic, you need to read the entire literature in the field. And to do the kind of scholarship Bryan's work requires, you need to cover multiple fields. Only that way can you assemble a wide variety of evidence into useful knowledge.
But few scholars ever even try to reach the enlightened interdisciplinary plane. So how does he do it?
Tyler explores Bryan's approach, including how to avoid the autodidact's curse, why his favorite philosopher happens to be a former classmate, what Tolstoy has that science fiction lacks, the idea trap, most useful wrong beliefs, effective altruism, Larry David, what most economics papers miss about the return to education, and more.
Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links.
Recorded April 17th, 2018
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before we start the show, a quick thank you to all of you who've participated in the listener survey. |
| 0:09.4 | Now, if you haven't filled that out yet, there's still some time left. |
| 0:12.8 | So, if you'd like to help out the show and be entered to win a special gift from Tyler, visit |
| 0:17.7 | merchidis.org slash survey. |
| 0:19.8 | Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Merchidis Center at George Mason University, |
| 0:32.4 | bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems. |
| 0:36.6 | Learn more at merchidis.org. |
| 0:39.2 | And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, |
| 0:43.9 | visit ConversationsWithT Tyler.com. |
| 0:50.6 | I'm here today with Brian Kaplan, professor of economics at George Mason University, |
| 0:58.4 | a very good friend of mine, a moral man. |
| 1:01.3 | Each of his last three books has made a major impact, most recently, the best selling |
| 1:06.8 | the case against education. |
| 1:08.6 | Welcome, Brian. |
| 1:09.6 | Thanks so much for having me, buddy. |
| 1:11.2 | Let me start with a sentence you uttered to me, I guess, a week ago. |
| 1:15.0 | And you just said to me, quote, no single paper is that good. |
| 1:19.4 | What did you mean by that? |
| 1:20.6 | What I'm meant by that is that if you look at any individual piece in social science specifically, |
| 1:26.8 | it's very hard to see that a reasonable person would fundamentally change their mind based upon any one of them. |
| 1:32.3 | So people often have an idea of there's the really good papers where you should have a |
| 1:36.4 | mine quake and you never see the world again in the same way after that. |
... |
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