Leif Wenar on Blood Oil

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 May 2016

⏱️ 65 minutes

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Summary

Should the United States allow its citizens to buy oil from countries run by bad men? Is this a case where morality trumps the usual case for free trade? Leif Wenar, professor of philosophy at King's College, London and author of Blood Oil, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the morality of buying resources from countries that use the resulting revenue to oppress their citizens. Based on the ideas in his book, Wenar argues that in many cases, importing oil is equivalent to buying stolen goods where the low prices cannot justify the purchase. The conversation discusses the possible outcomes from banning foreign oil from tyrannical regimes along with the resource curse and the case for fair trade.

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.
0:34.6	Today is May 9, 2016, and before today's interview, I want to remind listeners that we've
0:39.5	added a new feature at econtalk.org, the extras, opportunities for further discussion or
0:45.0	ways to check your knowledge of an episode.
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0:51.9	If you'd like to know about upcoming episodes or the opportunity to read books in advance,
0:56.9	then finally, I want to say that econtalk is now on SoundCloud.
1:00.1	It's been on Stitcher for a while if that is useful to you.
1:03.3	And now for today's guest, Lafe Winar.
1:06.8	He holds the chair of Philosophy and Law at School of Law Kings College, London, and is
1:11.2	the author of Blood Oil, Tyrants Violence, and the rules that run the world published
1:16.2	by Oxford University Press.
1:18.1	Lafe Welcom Deacon Talk.
1:19.1	It's a real pleasure to be with you, Russ.
	...

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