Quotes from Bryan Caplan

My findings may not be watertight, but they are more than seaworthy.

Higher education is the only product where the consumer tries to get as little out of it as possible. —Arnold Kling, "College Customers vs. Suppliers"41

Capitalism stands its trial before judges who have the sentence of death in their pockets. They are going to pass it, whatever the defense they may hear; the only success victorious defense can possibly produce is a change in the indictment.

the ineradicable prejudice that every action intended to serve the profit interest must be anti-social by this fact alone."27

Government heavily subsidizes education. In 2011, U.S. federal, state, and local governments spent almost a trillion dollars on it.5 The simplest way to get less education, then, is to cut the subsidies.

It is irrational to be politically well-informed because the low returns from data simply do not justify their cost in time and other resources.

Angry lamentation about the effects of new tech on privacy has flabbergasted me the most. For practical purposes, we have more privacy than ever before in human history. You can now buy embarrassing products in secret. You can read or view virtually anything you like in secret. You can interact with over a billion people in secret.

Irrationality in politics is not a puzzle. It is precisely what an economic theory of irrationality predicts.

In the winter, strangers are often shocked to see me wearing shorts.

By analogy, both sculptors and appraisers have the power to raise the market value of a piece of stone. The sculptor raises the market value of a piece of stone by shaping it. The appraiser raises the market value of a piece of stone by judging it. Teachers need to ask ourselves, "How much of what we do is sculpting, and how much is appraising?

Out of all the wishes on the Parental Wish List, "good memories" are one of the few that clearly depend upon how you raise your child. Don't forget it.

Strange though it sounds, if we're "running out" of anything, it's people.

The best social insurance is to make more progress, not to make more work