Greg Ip on Foolproof

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2016

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When does the pursuit of safety lead us into danger? Greg Ip, of the Wall Street Journal and author of Foolproof talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book--the way we publicly and privately try to cope with risk and danger and how those choices can create unintended consequences. While much of the conversation focuses on the financial crisis of 2008, there are also discussions of football injuries, damage from natural disasters such as hurricanes, car accidents, and Herbert Hoover. Along the way, Herman Melville's insights into the mesmerizing nature of water make an appearance.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:09.2	I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.7	Our website is econtalk.org, where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:18.7	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.7	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done
0:25.8	going back to 2006.
0:28.2	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:30.7	We'd love to hear from you.
0:36.7	Before introducing today's guest, I just want to remind listeners to please go to econtalk.org
0:42.6	and in the upper left hand corner, you'll find a link to our annual listener survey, where
0:47.1	you can vote for your favorite episodes of 2015.
0:50.0	Please do it today.
0:51.3	The survey will close on January 31st.
0:53.9	So get out there and vote.
0:56.0	Today is December 17th, 2015, and my guest is Greg Ipp of the Wall Street Journal, his
1:02.1	latest book, and the subject of today's conversation is foolproof.
1:06.2	Why safety can be dangerous and how danger makes us safe.
1:09.3	Greg, welcome to econtalk.
1:10.6	Russ, thanks for having me on.
1:13.7	So I'm going to start with an image you start off early in the book, and it's an image
1:18.4	metaphor that we use often here on the program, and I'm always happy to see someone else
1:24.2	use it.
	...

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