5 Questions with Arnold Kling
An interview with one of the best economic writers and current public intellectuals.
This is my five question interview, with the economist and blogger, Arnold Kling. Kling is also an entrepreneur, author, worked at Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve. His Substack In My Tribe, is one of the few I read often. It’s great for economic and broad, but deep, intellectual reading. His “Keeping Up with the FITs” (Fantasy Intellectuals Teams), is a great way to get a short rundown of ideas from the best public intellectuals.
Starting with Tyler Cowen, I’ve been obsessed with the public intellectual. One thing Cowen and Kling have in common is that they are two of the best public intellectuals, but not necessarily the most famous. If their writing and/or public policy ideas were better known and adopted, policy would be overall better. But the best ideas don’t usually win over people in positions of power. And that’s for a lot of reasons.
The questions below are a little random but particularly suited to Kling’s wide-ranging knowledge.
EK: How would you best describe the current decline of the American empire and your assessment of where it’s going in the short and long term?
Kling: I would say that I am disappointed at the cultural state of America, but I cannot speak to whether it is declining as an empire. Peter Zeihan, who you can find on YouTube or in his books, sees America as deliberately backing out of being the global policeman, and he sees other countries suffering from this much more than we will.
EK: What are macroeconomists, in the broadest sense, currently doing well?
Kling: They are expressing doubts and concerns. When macroeconomists are certain about things, they are dangerous. Feeling certain that inflation is easy to control or that large government deficits are not a problem is not helpful.
EK: Should Democrats and/or Republicans move in a more libertarian or classically liberal direction?
Kling: I would say yes to both for the good of the country. But the broader public has too many fears that are easily exploited, so it is in the interest of both parties to exploit those fears and grab for more power.
EK: What local U.S. cultural change would provide the most economic value?
Kling: I would like to see elites give more credit to the power of individual agency and assign less importance to group identity. I would like to see young people more focused on becoming good parents and productive workers, and less focused on having good reputations on social media.
EK: What would fiscal and monetary policy look like if policymakers understood your book Specialization and Trade?
Kling: Policymakers would have more humility. They would not undertake drastic measures, such as TARP or the COVID relief efforts, or the Fed increasing the size of its balance sheet by orders of magnitude.
#4 cultural change with most economic value?
US colleges should have at least 20% of their professors and administrators be Republican, pro-life, anti-illegal immigration, pro-capitalism.
Identity polarization, and worse economic policies as well as cultural policies, come primarily from accepting colleges in their secret, semi-illegal discrimination against Republicans. Since long before Bloom's 1987 "The Closing of the American Mind", but in the S curve increase to almost 100% anti-Republican today.
Good questions!