092: Graham Brownlow on Rent Seeking, Cliometrics and the Economics of the DeLorean

Dr. Graham Brownlow (PhD, QUB) is a Lecturer in Economics at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Dr. Brownlow’s research focuses primarily on economic history and institutions, evolutionary economics, Irish economic and business performance and violence. He also has an interest in methodology in economic and business history.

Graham edits the journal Irish Economic and Social History.

I’m very eclectic and pragmatic – Dr. Graham Brownlow

Economics:

In this episode, Graham mentions: rent seeking, cliometrics, inefficiency, corruption, institutions, subsidies, Brexit, monopolies, sharing economy, fast money, game theory, bargaining, public choice, regional economics and economic history. 

Economists:

In this episode, Graham mentions: Peter Boettke, Peter Leeson, Gary Becker, William Baumal, Douglass North, Robert Hamilton, Eli Hecksher, Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, George Duncan, Tim Harford, Steven Landsburg and G. L. S. Shackle.

Using Analytic Narratives in Economic Research

Looking to balance the details of fact and yet keep the rigour of an economic model – Graham Brownlow

1. Identify the problem or puzzle.
2. Immerse yourself in the topic or resources.
3. Move to more formal aspects.
4. Don’t start with the model and then use it to explain your findings.
5. You actually first look at the historical issue under investigation and then apply it to the model.

Links:

• Mont Pelerin Society

Research by Dr. Graham Brownlow:

• Back to the Failure: An Analytic Narrative of the De Lorean Debacle (2015).
• Soft Budget Constraints and Regional Industrial Policy: Reinterpreting the Rise and Fall of De Lorean (2015).
• ‘Review of Cullen Economy, Trade and Irish Merchants at Home and Abroad, 1600-1988’ (2013).
• How do we Ensure a Useful Future for Irish Cliometrics? (2012).

• A complete list of Graham’s research can be found here.

Where to Find Graham:

• Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Twitter: @GrahamBrownlow

Books:

• The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
• The Undercover Economist Strikes Back: How to Run – or Ruin – an Economy by Tim Harford
• The Undercover Economist, Revised and Updated Edition: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor – and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car! by Tim Harford
• The Logic of Life: The Rational Economics of an Irrational World by Tim Harford
• Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure by Tim Harford
• Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Harford
• The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life by Steven Landsburg
• Economics for Pleasure by G. L. S. Shackle
• The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti

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