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person1971–

Bryan Caplan

Disciplines:
economics
george mason
libertarianism

Summary

American economist at George Mason — author of The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, and Open Borders — who applies economic reasoning to immigration, education, and voting to produce consistently contrarian conclusions.

Core Contribution

Creates the signaling critique of education as a policy argument — The Case Against Education argues (using extensive labor economics evidence) that most of the wage premium from education is signaling value rather than human capital production, and that public education subsidies are therefore largely wasteful; this is the most empirically grounded anti-education-spending argument.

Key Spikes & Highlights

  • Believes in near-total open borders as a sincere policy position and is willing to debate it against anyone — his Open Borders graphic novel (with Zach Weinersmith) is the most accessible serious argument for immigration liberalization and is the most successful social science argument presented in graphic novel form
  • Refuses to watch or read news and does not follow current events — his argument (that most news has no decision-relevant information and is therefore pure entertainment with negative externalities for democracy) is a systematic application of his own Myth of the Rational Voter thesis to his own media consumption

Notable Works & Achievements

The Myth of the Rational Voter

Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids

The Case Against Education

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration

Historical Influences

Friedrich Hayek Michael Huemer Bryan Caplan's own blog

Intellectual Lineage

Northridge, CaliforniaUC Berkeley Princeton George Mason

Contemporaries & Peers

Tyler Cowen Garett Jones Robin Hanson

Minds Influenced

Libertarian economics discourseOpen borders advocacy

Intellectual Posterity

The Myth of the Rational Voter The Case Against Education Open Borders Caplan as libertarian economist-blogger

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