Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.

I'm your host, Russ Roberts, of Sholem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

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Today is May 20th, 2025, and my guest is economist Noah Smith.

Noah's substack is Noopinion, N-O-A-H-P-I-O-N-I-O-N, No Opinion.

I recommend it. It's fascinating.

This is Noah's fifth appearance on Econ Talk.

He was last year in August of 2024, talking about the challenge of escaping poverty. Our topic for today is a recent

essay that he wrote, quote, I owe the libertarians an apology, which among other things is about

political forces having unexpected consequences. It's also a lesson in humility, which I deeply respect. And I hope we're going to grapple along the way with the power of simple economics, even when it threatens to become simplistic. Noah, welcome back to Econ Talk. Thanks for having me back.

So, you know, we've known each other for quite a while, mostly online, but occasionally

we've met a couple times in person.

And I've always been impressed that you are willing to both criticize, quote, your team,

the people who you generally are going to agree with, but also show a rare ability

to reflect on your own views. And this essay was really quite unusual in that sense,

and I have tremendous respect for it. I hope we're not going to beat you up, you and me,

combining to beat yourself up with your mistakes.

But I think the intellectual journey and the insights that you have are quite interesting, regardless

of where you are on the political spectrum.

...