With the Department of Government Efficiency taking on a very different character than previously believed, with Vivek Ramaswamy out and a focus on digital modernization rather than litigation, I had James Broughel of the Competitive Enterprise Institute on my podcast, Econception, to discuss. We talk about how it’s a bit of a letdown from previous plans for the DOGE, but also look to successful state-level deregulation in Idaho, Iowa, and elsewhere for some examples of what the federal government could be doing better.

Then, I turn to talking about Trump’s “win” against Colombia on tariffs. I’m less impressed than some other commentators and argue that it doesn’t prove that tariffs are a good idea in general.

The final segment is on union members in the U.S. Many people have an image of blue-collar workers in hard hats, but who are union members really? The annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics has some facts that might surprise you.

For the Paper of the Episode, James picked a chapter from a 1972 book about cost-benefit analysis, “The Inadequacy of Weighted Discount Rates,” by the great NBER economist Martin Feldstein.

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