Episode 5: The Economics of the Chilling Effect

Dissenters are arrested, comedians are forced to apologise, online mobs are on the rampage. The incentives are aligned towards shutting up. Amit Varma and Vivek Kaul get together in episode 5 of Econ Central to talk about the economics of the chilling effect. Also discussed: the significance of Amitabh Bachchan getting Covid, and the dangers of dead capital.

Also check out:
1. Ian RankinMichael Connelly and EL Doctorow on Amazon.
2. Poet And Former Lecturer Varavara Rao Dying In Jail — Priya Ramani.
3. What Happened to Our Journalism? — Episode 178 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nidhi Razdan).
4. Internet Hindus and Madrasa Muslims — Amit Varma (on group polarization).
5. You’re From the Mutton Lobby — Transcript of episode 49 of The Seen and the Unseen (solo episode on political discourse).
6. Stop Firing the Innocent — Yascha Mounk.
7. Bari Weiss’s resignation letter from the New York Times.
8. Choice and Consequence — Thomas C Schelling.
9. Misbehaving — Richard Thaler.
10. Micromotives and Macrobehaviour — Thomas C Schelling.
11. Helmet Safety Commercial with Coconut.
12. Cigarette in My Hand — Gary Lawyer’s anti-smoking commercial.
13. Homeopathic Faith — Amit Varma.
14. The Mystery of Capital — Hernando de Soto.
15. India Awakes — The full documentary on YouTube.
16. The Right to Property — Episode 26 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan).
17. India’s Agriculture Crisis — Episode 140 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Barun Mitra).
18. FSI in India — Episode 11 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Alex Tabarrok).
19. Twelve Dream Reforms — Episode 138 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan, Rajeswari Sengupta & Vivek Kaul).
20. Basic Economics — Thomas Sowell.
21. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat.
22. Thomas Sowell & Frédéric Bastiat on Amazon.
23. Economics in One Lesson — Henry Hazlitt.
24. Beware of the Useful Idiots — Amit Varma.
25. How to Speak Money — John Lanchester.
26. Whoops! — John Lanchester.
27. India’s Problem is Poverty, Not Inequality — Amit Varma.
28. Marginal Revolution University.

You can show your appreciation by buying us coffee or a book here. Do pick up Vivek’s books, India’s Big Government and Bad Money. And check out Amit’s online course, The Art of Clear Writing.