Economic Rockstar

Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance

136: Abby Hall on the Boomerang Effect and the Militarization of the US Domestic Police Force

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136: Abby Hall on the Boomerang Effect and the Militarization of the US Domestic Police Force

Abby Hall is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida and a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute.

She earned her PhD in Economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in 2015.

Her broader research interests include Austrian Economics, Political Economy and Public Choice, and Peace Economics, and Institutions and Economic Development.

Her work includes topics surrounding the U.S. military and national defense, including, domestic police militarization, arm sales, weapons as foreign aid, the cost of military mobilization, and the political economy of military technology.

She is currently researching how foreign intervention adversely impacts domestic political, social, and other institutions.

You can find Abby’s research, writings and other information on her website at www.abigailrhall.com.

Economists:

In this episode Abby mentions: Chris Coyne, James Buchanan, Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Robert Higgs, Henry Hazlitt, David Skarbek, Stephanie Haeffele-Balch and Tom Duncan.

Books:

Select Papers By Abby Hall:

  • The Militarization of Disaster Relief” (work in progress) (with S. Haeffele-Balch).
  • Abigail R. Hall (with C. Coyne). 2013. ​​​“The Militarization of U.S. Domestic Policing.”​​​ ​The Independent Review, 17(4):485-504 .​​
  • Abigail R. Hall (with C. Coyne). 2014. “The Political Economy of Drones.” Defence and Peace Economics, 25(5): 445-460.
  • Abigail R. Hall (with C. Coyne). “The Empire Strikes Back: Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and the Robust Political Economy of Empire.” Review of Austrian Economics, 2013.

Patreon

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

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106: Michael Kofoed on the Effectiveness of an Economics Major in the Military and How the Pomegranate Defunded the Taliban

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106: Michael Kofoed on the Effectiveness of an Economics Major in the Military and How the Pomegranate Defunded the Taliban

Michael Kofoed is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, michael-kofoed-economic-rockstarNew York.

Professor Kofoed’s research focuses on the economics of higher education including the effects of financial aid on student outcomes, pricing behavior of for-profit universities, and measuring the effects of randomly assigned peers and mentors.

Michael has numerous published and forthcoming papers and his book chapter “Price Discrimination”, co-authored with David Mustard, features in Encyclopedia of Education Economics and Finance.

Michael received his PhD from the University of Georgia with the PhD title Essays on the Economics of Student Financial Aid and a BS in Quantitaive Economics from Weber State University.

A good economist is not someone who sits around and reads econ books for a long time but someone who just reads. Gets out of their comfort zone. Reads about something that might be different than what they normally read but engages the economic mind while reading through that. – Michael Kofoed

Economics:

In this episode, Michael discusses and mentions: rationality, opportunity costs, scarce resources, pay-offs, marginal benefit, labor market, equality, GDP, free trade and perfect competition. 

Economists: 

In this episode, Michael discusses and mentions: Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, Joseph Stiglitz, Gary Becker, Paul Romer and Greg Mankiw.

In this episode you will learn:

  • how students lose out on college financial aid up to the value of $2,000.
  • the effect of same-gender and same-race role models on occupation choice.
  • about US college financial aid and its business cycle.
  • how a position in a US military academy can present opportunities to all including minorities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
  • how useful an economics major would be on the battlefield.
  • what do you do with an economics degree after five years in the army and you realise the army is not for you.
  • about national security through the lens of economics.
  • about opportunity costs and the allocation of scarce resources.
  • how the pomegranate defunded the Taliban.
  • the conflict between economic logic, rationality and theory with reality.
  • writing tips.
  • and much more.

Writing Tips:

  1. Find something that you’re excited about. If you’re a grad student, it shouldn’t be about what your professor wants. It should be about what you want or else it’s just not going to be fun.
  2. Once you’ve found what makes you excited, ask yourself ‘Does anyone care?’. Is anyone going to read my stuff?’  If the answer is ‘Yes’ then you’ve hit a sweet spot because you care and other people care.
  3. The great secret of economics is that co-authorship is equally valued. Then go find co-authors that are smarter than you, because when they challenge and push you, they make you a better researcher.
  4. You need to get your writing out there. You don’t want to be Golum in The Lord of the Rings that sits there and strokes the precious and does’t let anyone else see the precious. You need to get other people to read it for you. You need to get it out in the conference circuit because when you have more eyes on it it will make you a better writer.
  5. Real research isn’t done in a closet somewhere. It’s done with other people. It’s a team effort.

Links:

Publications:

Book Chapters

Books:

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101: Chris Coyne on the Opportunity Cost to War, Exporting Democracy and the Nirvana Fallacy

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101: Chris Coyne on the Opportunity Cost of War, Exporting Democracy and the Nirvana Fallacy

Christopher Coyne is an Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the AssociateChris Coyne Economic Rockstar Director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center.

He also serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Economics.

Professor Coyne serves as the Co-Editor of The Review of Austrian Economics, the Co-Editor of The Independent Review, the Co-Editor of Advances in Austrian Economics, and the Book Review Editor of Public Choice.

Chris has authored numerous academic articles, book chapters, and policy studies and his research interests include political economy and military intervention.

Professor Coyne is the author or co-author of numerous books including Future: Economic Peril or Prosperity? and After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy.

He is also the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics and The Handbook on the Political Economy of War.

In 2016 Chris was selected as a recipient of George Mason University’s University Teaching Excellence Award.

His work can be found at www.ccoyne.com

Economics:

In this episode, Chris discusses and mentions: economics of war, the Nirvana Fallacy, incentives, knowledge constraints, unintended consequences, the Capitalist-Peace hypothesis, dependency effects, public goods, praxeology, prohibition and society.

Economists:

In this episode, Chris discusses and mentions: Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Robert Higgs, Mike Munger, Peter Leeson, Rachel Coyne, James Buchanan, Gordon Tullock, Claude-Frédéric Bastiat and Henry Hazlitt.

Professor Coyne’s Daily Routine:

  • Everyday is the same. I wake up every morning between 5 and 6 am and work out in the garage for 1 to 2 hours. Then I eat breakfast and get to work.
  • I work in chunks – anywhere from 1 to 3 hours and I take little breaks in between.
  • When I find myself losing focus, I do little things like getting a cup of coffee or do a chore around the house or going outside for a few minutes. It resets my mind.
  • I’ll work from 8 or 9 am to lunch. I get lunch, maybe work a little more and then I shift more into administrative mode. It requires a different brain power than reading and writing.

Links:

Recommended Books:

Human Action by Mises: “That is an excellent book in terms of a systematic treatise on economics.” – Chris Coyne.

Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government by Robert Higgs: “It’s a wonderful treatment of how government grows through the onset of crises. He’s focused mainly on the United States. He talks about the evolution of the US government and he highlights these punctuated points of crises where government grew. Of course World War 2 and the Great Depression being among the main ones that he highlights. It’s excellent both for the history but also for the framework he lays out – called the ‘Ratchet Effect’ (how the government ratchets up in size. It’s a wonderful book that I highly recommend.” – Chris Coyne.

Papers Mentioned in the Episode:

Where to Find Professor Coyne:

Books:

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