The Ever-Present Challenge of Escaping Poverty (with Noah Smith)

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

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Summary

The universe, points out economist Noah Smith, is always trying to kill us, whether through asteroids hurtling through space or our every-few-hours hunger pains. Why, then, should we expect anything but a gravitational pull toward poverty? Listen as Smith explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts why he believes that poverty will always be our "elemental foe," and how what he calls "industrial modernity" is key to keeping poverty at bay. They also discuss Smith's impatience with the "degrowth movement," which he thinks jeopardizes our gains in the fight against the elemental foe.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:08.0	I'm your host Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Go to Econ Talk. in to today's conversation. You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done
0:24.5	going back to 2006. Our email address is mail at econ talk.org we'd love to hear from you. Today is July 17, 2024, my guest is economist Noah Smith.
0:42.0	He writes at Substack at No Opinion, NO A H P, I N O H P, I N, I, O, P, I, O, N, O, P, I, O, N,
0:49.5	This is Noah's fourth appearance on Econ Talk.
0:52.5	It was last year in January of 2024,
0:56.0	discussing whether a nation can plunder its way to wealth.
0:59.9	Our topic for today is poverty,
1:02.1	what Noah calls in his essay at No Opinion on this topic,
1:06.7	the elemental foe.
1:09.2	Noah, welcome back to Econ Talk.
1:11.0	Hey, great to be back.
1:12.1	I want to warn parents listening with children this episode may touch
1:15.3	on adult themes or language. Why do you call it the elemental foe? It's kind of grand and
1:21.5	I haven't think it deserves that grandeur but why do you use that
1:26.0	use that wording? That phrase comes from the Dr Frankenstein. Dr.
1:33.2	Frankenstein.
1:37.4	The titular character Dr.
1:39.4	Frankenstein is on an expedition, I believe, to the the Arctic and he writes about data that he's
1:45.1	going to get that will help humanity against the elemental flows of our race.
1:56.4	And he means the elements themselves, you know.
1:58.4	He's talking about cold.
	...

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