A conversation with Professor Jeremy Horpedahl.

For the latest episode of my American Institute for Economic Research podcast, Econception, I talked to Professor Jeremy Horpedahl of the University of Central Arkansas about his one-man crusade against online economic doomerism. He regularly posts on X to dispel misplaced romanticism for the past and class warfare talking points from the left and the right. We discuss why such myths are popular and what’s effective for countering them.

Then, I talk about how government policy affects goods-producing vs. services-producing industries in the U.S. The Republican tax law fixed one of the biases against goods-producing companies by putting permanent full expensing into the corporate tax code. But tariffs are another policy that affects goods-producing industries more than services-producing ones, undermining a lot of the benefit from full expensing.

Next, I discuss how rich people who complain about taxes being too low can be the change they want to see in the world by making contributions directly to the Treasury. They basically never do that. I talk about why that is.

Jeremy’s Paper of the Episode is very interesting: “The Rise of the Chicago Packers and the Origins of Meat Inspection and Antitrust” by Gary Libecap. It looks at how federal meatpacking regulations began, not as a protection for consumers, but rather to protect producers from competition.

Please listen and subscribe to Econception by clicking here.