Podcasts Education Self-Improvement Conversations with Tyler Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert

Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert

Published: April 29, 2020, noon

Glen Weyl is an economist, researcher, and founder of RadicalXChange. He recently co-authored a paper that sets forth an ambitious strategy to respond to the crisis and mitigate long-term damage to the economy through a regime of testing, tracing, and supported isolation. In his estimation the benefit-cost ratio is ten to one, with costs equal to about one month of continued freeze in place.

Tyler invited Glen to discuss the plan, including how it\u2019d overcome obstacles to scaling up testing and tracing, what other countries got right and wrong in their responses, the unusual reason why he\u2019s bothered by price gouging on PPE supplies, where his plan differs with Paul Romer\u2019s, and more. They also discuss academia\u2019s responsibility to inform public discourse, how he\u2019d apply his ideas on mechanism design to reform tenure and admissions, his unique intellectual journey from socialism to libertarianism and beyond, the common element that attracts him to both the movie Memento and Don McLean\u2019s \u201cAmerican Pie,\u201d what talent he looks for in young economists, the struggle to straddle the divide between academia and politics, the benefits and drawbacks of rollerblading to class, and more.

Read a\xa0full transcript\xa0enhanced with helpful links, or watch the\xa0full video.

Recorded April 20th, 2020

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