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Michael Covel's Trend Following

Ep. 289: Alex Tabarrok & David Nott Interviews with Michael Covel on Trend Following Radio

Michael Covel's Trend Following

Michael Covel

Business, Investing

4.6732 Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2014

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guests today are Alex Tabarrok and David Nott.

Tabarrok is the co-author of the Marginal Revolution website. He's an economist at Covel's alma mater, George Mason University. 

Nott is the president of The Reason Foundation–an organization that is all about free minds and free markets. 

The topic is libertarianism.

In this episode of Trend Following Radio we discuss:

  • Covel and Tabarrok discuss China and the importance of teaching Chinese to American children; the greatest anti-poverty program in the world; the difficulty of improving the infrastructure of the United States; regulation and innovation; interest groups; benevolent dictators; the need for a democracy in an information age; innovation in the current American education system; why the American education system is focused on getting you to work for the man; women in the American education system; innovation, intellectual property and patents; the cumulative properties of innovation; grounds for optimism in the United States when it comes to innovation; how George Mason University became a libertarian economist hotspot; if Europe is following the path of Japan; why the European monetary union was a mistake; and why travel can create optimism.
  • Covel and Nott discuss The Reason Foundation and what it means to be a libertarian today; how Nott explains being a libertarian to people; how the actor and comedian Drew Carey came to be involved with The Reason Foundation; finding the optimism to stay focused on swaying people to the founding principles of our country; politics in China; the 2008 financial crisis, state control, and Reason's response to the bailouts; common sense notions; pension reform; drug policy reform; the cultural policies surrounding prohibition; expanding the idea of liberty to younger people; Vernon Smith and Walter Williams.

Jump in!

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I'm MICHAEL COVEL, the host of TREND FOLLOWING RADIO, and I'm proud to have delivered 10+ million podcast listens since 2012. Investments, economics, psychology, politics, decision-making, human behavior, entrepreneurship and trend following are all passionately explored and debated on my show.

To start? I'd like to give you a great piece of advice you can use in your life and trading journey… cut your losses! You will find much more about that philosophy here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/trend/

You can watch a free video here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/video/

Can't get enough of this episode? You can choose from my thousand plus episodes here: https://www.trendfollowing.com/podcast

My social media platforms:
Twitter: @covel
Facebook: @trendfollowing
LinkedIn: @covel
Instagram: @mikecovel

Hope you enjoy my never-ending podcast conversation!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is Trend Following Radio, where great thinking comes alive.

0:10.9

Nobel Prize winners, legendary traders, bestselling authors, and the pros that know what drive us irrational human beings.

0:21.1

I am your host, Michael Covel.

0:24.0

Not filtered, raw, honest.

0:27.4

That's my passion.

0:32.9

Today I have a two-part episode,

0:35.9

what I'm affectionately calling the Libertarian episode.

0:39.8

First, Alex Tabarach, co-author of the Marginal Revolution website, along with Tyler Cohen,

0:47.1

who has appeared on my show.

0:49.2

Alex is an economist at my alma mater, George Mason University, and he was not selected

0:53.6

because he happens to be at my alma mater. George Mason University, and he was not selected because he happens to be at my alma mater.

0:57.2

It just so happens that my alma mater has taken the lead on libertarian free market principles.

1:05.9

Second on the show today, David Knott, president of the Reason Foundation, which is all about the advancement

1:14.2

of free minds and free markets.

1:17.4

I first came to know about David and the Reason Foundation because a couple traders in my world,

1:25.5

Bill Dunn, Richard Dennis, and some people that have appeared on my podcast, Walter Williams, Vernon Smith, are on the board of trustees at the Reason Foundation.

1:37.7

So ask yourself, why are all these really bright people?

1:41.5

A couple of them, two of the great traders of the last 30 and 40 years, why are they there?

1:50.0

A great conversation with Alex, a great conversation with David. I hope you enjoy both.

2:03.4

So listen, here's where I'd like to go today.

2:07.0

I want, I figure while I have you on, and you've got this nice perspective.

2:13.3

What I would like to do to describe the global playing field, the world is flat, so to speak.

...

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