Michael Munger on Obedience to the Unenforceable

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2023

⏱️ 71 minutes

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Summary

Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as "obedience to the unenforceable"--the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom. Listen as economist Michael Munger talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the power and challenge of the unenforceable.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics
0:07.0	and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover
0:13.0	Institution.
0:14.0	Go to econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this episode and find links down
0:18.6	the information related to today's conversation.
0:21.6	You'll also find our archives, but every episode we've done going back to 2006.
0:26.8	Our email address is mail at econtalk.org.
0:29.8	We'd love to hear from you.
0:37.8	Today is May 11, 2023, and for introducing today's guest, I want to belatedly list your favorite
0:45.2	episodes of 2022 from our annual survey.
0:50.2	But tenths, most popular or enjoyed in your voting, was a four-way tie.
0:58.4	Mike Munger on a dust row policy, Vinay Prasad on the pandemic.
1:02.8	Mark Yandrisa on software immortality and Bitcoin.
1:06.6	Mati Friedman on Leonard Cohen and the Eomki Poor War.
1:10.8	Number nine, Nassim Nicholas Talib on the nation, states and scale.
1:16.3	Number eight, Dwayne Betts on beauty, prison and redaction.
1:19.6	Number seven, Russ Roberts and Michael Munger on wild problems.
1:24.4	Number six, Devon Zughal on inflation, Argentina and crypto.
1:29.4	Number five, Annie Duke on the power of quitting.
1:32.6	Number four, Imwertals on a gentleman in Moscow on the writer's craft.
1:37.2	Number three, Tyler Cowan on reading.
	...

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