Bryan Caplan: Discussing Controversial Topics

Sophy Ramírez  | 01 de mayo de 2020  | Vistas: 294

Bryan Caplan is an economist and author that writes about controversial topics in his books, such as Selfish Reasons to Have Kids or The Case Against Education. He teaches some real facts or ideas that may be tabus in society but can be useful and beneficial for economical improvement.

In this interview, Caplan shares how he finds raw ideas to develop for his books and shows that they can be useful for society. He reveals his motivations for writing his latest book Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, where he establishes why immigration laws are obstructing economic growth. 

What these laws do is to trap human talent in places where it is less productive, if people are allowed to be free, to live and work anywhere they want, then talent will tend to flow to places where it's most productive.” - Bryan Caplan

Caplan mentions some of the common objections his book, Open Borders, has received as well as the cultural harm that a community may suffer when they meet with another culture.  This causes Americans not to want immigrants in their country because of the language barrier, even though the new generation of immigrants usually adopt the culture and can speak fluent English.

The economist presents the fields he studied to write his book besides economics, such as behavioral genetics and psychology. He also expresses why Atlas Shrugged has been a big influence on his writing and career. 

Atlas Shrugged really did get me going and remains a big influence on me in terms of general worldview, and also the topics that I think are interesting.” - Bryan Caplan 

He concludes recommending some books and authors for people or students interested in economics. Some of these are The problem of political authority of Michael Huemer, and his own Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.