High Signal Podcasts Evidence ledger
Method
Browse
How the evidence works
← All source episodes

Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Daniel Carpenter on Smart Regulation

5 May 2021 26 published claims 2 attributable people
Open original episode ↗ Read the evidence

Speakers in the public record

Daniel CarpenterTyler Cowen

Claim mix

belief 14evaluation 9uncertainty 1commitment 1recommendation 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

26 published records

01 / belief

I’m not saying I agree with all of these folks, but I do think that, right now, all of our attention on notice-and-comment rulemaking — and for that matter, cost-benefit analysis as concomitant to it — misses the fact that there are people who are close observers of this space — and now a very empirically sophisticated observer in this space, Brian Libgober — who believe that most of the action is actually occurring before notice and comment starts.

“I’m not saying I agree with all of these folks, but I do think that, right now, all of our attention on notice-and-comment rulemaking — and for that matter, cost-benefit analysis as concomitant to it — misses the fact that there are people who are close observers of this space — and now a very empirically sophisticated observer in this space, Brian Libgober — who believe that most of the action is actually occurring before notice and comment starts.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

02 / belief

Whether it’s made folks better off or worse off — that’s much harder to tell, but I would argue, in fact, that if you proactively embed voices — interests that wouldn’t otherwise be represented — that you’ll actually open up the conversation.

“Whether it’s made folks better off or worse off — that’s much harder to tell, but I would argue, in fact, that if you proactively embed voices — interests that wouldn’t otherwise be represented — that you’ll actually open up the conversation.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

03 / belief

Then there’s no incentive, or very weak incentives, for anybody to do randomized clinical trials, which I would argue is one of the most important scientific revolutions of the 20th century.

“Then there’s no incentive, or very weak incentives, for anybody to do randomized clinical trials, which I would argue is one of the most important scientific revolutions of the 20th century.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

04 / belief

Actually, in some respects, I think we need to know a fair amount about what postal workers do without, say, calling for Amazon tracking. But if we think that postal workers are misplacing ballots or not providing birth control pills or something like that, then we should probably have some way of picking up on that kind of nefarious behavior.

“Actually, in some respects, I think we need to know a fair amount about what postal workers do without, say, calling for Amazon tracking. But if we think that postal workers are misplacing ballots or not providing birth control pills or something like that, then we should probably have some way of picking up on that kind of nefarious behavior.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

05 / belief

I gave a talk recently to a group in Israel and Europe on regulation, where I said the big bullet we dodged in the past year was one in which there was all this pressure, in summer 2020, on the FDA to quicken a whole set of therapies for coronavirus and COVID-19. This obviously started with hydroxychloroquine, which I think the jury is in on that now — not effective; convalescent plasma — probably very effective, but its rollout certainly didn’t help.

“I gave a talk recently to a group in Israel and Europe on regulation, where I said the big bullet we dodged in the past year was one in which there was all this pressure, in summer 2020, on the FDA to quicken a whole set of therapies for coronavirus and COVID-19. This obviously started with hydroxychloroquine, which I think the jury is in on that now — not effective; convalescent plasma — probably very effective, but its rollout certainly didn’t help.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

07 / belief

I would say two things. Number one, it’s a brute mechanism, but the mechanism of what I would call approval regulation, which is, basically, the FDA as a veto player granting access to profitable markets creates very, very powerful incentives for R&D.

“I would say two things. Number one, it’s a brute mechanism, but the mechanism of what I would call approval regulation, which is, basically, the FDA as a veto player granting access to profitable markets creates very, very powerful incentives for R&D.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

08 / belief

What the FDA does in a lot of these cases is allows for a molecule to be approved, say, cisplatin would be an example of the first platinum-based chemotherapy, and then basically knows — I think the FDA knows that when a lot of these molecules are out there, there’s going to be off-label prescribing.

“What the FDA does in a lot of these cases is allows for a molecule to be approved, say, cisplatin would be an example of the first platinum-based chemotherapy, and then basically knows — I think the FDA knows that when a lot of these molecules are out there, there’s going to be off-label prescribing.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

09 / belief

Knowing some people who’ve been involved in the space, and seeing also what’s gone on worldwide, I would say one agency that has been captured or plausibly captured would be the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“Knowing some people who’ve been involved in the space, and seeing also what’s gone on worldwide, I would say one agency that has been captured or plausibly captured would be the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

10 / belief

If we think about testing for COVID-19, starting maybe with Paul Romer and Glen Weyl, who has been on this podcast, Michael Mina, a variety of commentators, Alex Tabarrok, now Ezra Klein — all have believed, and in some cases shown using measurements, mathematics, statistics, that if much earlier COVID-19 testing had been available, although imperfect, that the United States would have been much better off.

“If we think about testing for COVID-19, starting maybe with Paul Romer and Glen Weyl, who has been on this podcast, Michael Mina, a variety of commentators, Alex Tabarrok, now Ezra Klein — all have believed, and in some cases shown using measurements, mathematics, statistics, that if much earlier COVID-19 testing had been available, although imperfect, that the United States would have been much better off.”
Speaker
Tyler Cowen
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

11 / uncertainty

Now, let me just say I agree with the criticism of the FDA on testing, and I’m pretty sure I mentioned this to a reporter back in the spring, I don’t know whether they ever .

“Now, let me just say I agree with the criticism of the FDA on testing, and I’m pretty sure I mentioned this to a reporter back in the spring, I don’t know whether they ever .”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

14 / belief

Native American women in the United States were petitioning in ways that were more innovative, even compared to white women. But as they saw this — what I call the accountability of voice, the idea that their voices could matter, not only in the arguments they put forth, but also in the weight of the numbers — I think that became a much more powerful motivator for women’s rights movements to make bolder and bolder claims for the vote.

“Native American women in the United States were petitioning in ways that were more innovative, even compared to white women. But as they saw this — what I call the accountability of voice, the idea that their voices could matter, not only in the arguments they put forth, but also in the weight of the numbers — I think that became a much more powerful motivator for women’s rights movements to make bolder and bolder claims for the vote.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

17 / evaluation

I would say that our political culture in the history of the United States, and much of our economy, and much of our education system presumed an open access, I mean, minimal cost for sending letters with all these cross-subsidies.

“I would say that our political culture in the history of the United States, and much of our economy, and much of our education system presumed an open access, I mean, minimal cost for sending letters with all these cross-subsidies.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

18 / evaluation

Now they don’t need to have that relationship to get the information they want, and so they just file a FOIA request, and they get it. That said, and again, going from the experience of the last few years, going from what I regard as a critical worry for our globe, for our country — creeping authoritarianism — I think FOIA is — and strongly enforced because it was just weakened by the Supreme Court — is one of the most important laws that we have.

“Now they don’t need to have that relationship to get the information they want, and so they just file a FOIA request, and they get it. That said, and again, going from the experience of the last few years, going from what I regard as a critical worry for our globe, for our country — creeping authoritarianism — I think FOIA is — and strongly enforced because it was just weakened by the Supreme Court — is one of the most important laws that we have.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

19 / evaluation

I’m happy to say that I think the case against price regulation, especially micro-level regulation of prices, is generally a strong one, the case against price regulation.

“I’m happy to say that I think the case against price regulation, especially micro-level regulation of prices, is generally a strong one, the case against price regulation.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

20 / evaluation

That said, the other thing they saw in the Postal Service — and this is something that Theodore Roosevelt saw in the Postal Service — was something that was being eaten from within by the patronage system. It was, in part, the folks in the Pendleton Act, but I would argue even more the presidents who really pushed civil service reform forward with their administrative decisions, who said, “If it’s going to happen anywhere, it has to happen in the Postal Service, in part because there’s a big part of our economy, as well as our society, that depends upon it.

“That said, the other thing they saw in the Postal Service — and this is something that Theodore Roosevelt saw in the Postal Service — was something that was being eaten from within by the patronage system. It was, in part, the folks in the Pendleton Act, but I would argue even more the presidents who really pushed civil service reform forward with their administrative decisions, who said, “If it’s going to happen anywhere, it has to happen in the Postal Service, in part because there’s a big part of our economy, as well as our society, that depends upon it.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

21 / evaluation

” And then you get a bunch of likes. It’s some kind of aggregation mechanism like that, that can do that, but I don’t think we have the kinds of institutions that we used to, in part because we don’t have a petition institution that structures robust public debate as much as we used to, and I think that’s a problem.

“” And then you get a bunch of likes. It’s some kind of aggregation mechanism like that, that can do that, but I don’t think we have the kinds of institutions that we used to, in part because we don’t have a petition institution that structures robust public debate as much as we used to, and I think that’s a problem.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

22 / evaluation

You get into problems with what’s the quality of a country’s institutions, and this is something we usually think about from the standpoint of, say, somebody like Robert Putnam or Douglass North or Margaret Levi, but I think institutions and the credibility of scientific institutions is also important.

“You get into problems with what’s the quality of a country’s institutions, and this is something we usually think about from the standpoint of, say, somebody like Robert Putnam or Douglass North or Margaret Levi, but I think institutions and the credibility of scientific institutions is also important.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

23 / evaluation

Some of them, I think, were making the wrong inferences from the evidence that exists, such as noticing, for instance, that in certain kinds of patterns of regulatory decision-making, larger and older firms did better, enjoyed, say, quicker or more favorable decisions than did smaller and newer firms.

“Some of them, I think, were making the wrong inferences from the evidence that exists, such as noticing, for instance, that in certain kinds of patterns of regulatory decision-making, larger and older firms did better, enjoyed, say, quicker or more favorable decisions than did smaller and newer firms.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

24 / evaluation

There are folks who say, “Well, let’s try to construct a unified theory” that puts the EPA installing smokestack scrubbers, mergers and acquisitions regulation, zoning regulations — because it’s called a regulation — and, say, some set of price constraints, and puts them into a unified theory.

“There are folks who say, “Well, let’s try to construct a unified theory” that puts the EPA installing smokestack scrubbers, mergers and acquisitions regulation, zoning regulations — because it’s called a regulation — and, say, some set of price constraints, and puts them into a unified theory.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

25 / recommendation

If anything, I believe the last presidential administration showed us the value of having an independent civil service, one that cannot be used by a party or a leader who verges on authoritarian energies, while at the same time avoiding some of the problems that one sees in the worst case of public employee union abuses, such as we see in some police departments.

“If anything, I believe the last presidential administration showed us the value of having an independent civil service, one that cannot be used by a party or a leader who verges on authoritarian energies, while at the same time avoiding some of the problems that one sees in the worst case of public employee union abuses, such as we see in some police departments.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler

26 / evaluation

The idea that vaccine hesitancy is just some regulatory construct or some byproduct, I think is number one, demonstrably false, and number two, it misses the big problem that corporate reputation matters.

“The idea that vaccine hesitancy is just some regulatory construct or some byproduct, I think is number one, demonstrably false, and number two, it misses the big problem that corporate reputation matters.”
Publisher
Conversations with Tyler
Search evidence