Bryan Caplan

Bryan Douglas Caplan (born April 8, 1971) is an American economist and author. Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, research fellow at the Mercatus Center, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and frequent contributor to Freakonomics as well as publishing his own blog, EconLog. He is a self-described economic libertarian. The bulk of Caplan's academic work is in behavioral economics and public economics, especially public choice theory.

Caplan holds a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley (1993) and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University (1997). His thesis is titled "Three essays on the economics of government behavior."

The Myth of the Rational Voter

The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, published in 2007, further develops the "rational irrationality" concept from Caplan's earlier academic writing. It draws heavily from the Survey of Americans and Economists on the Economy in making the argument that voters have systematically biased beliefs about many important economic topics. Caplan writes that rational irrationality is an explanation for the failure of democracy. The book was reviewed in the popular press, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, as well as in academic publications such as the Journal of Libertarian Studies, Public Choice, Libertarian Papers, and The Independent Review. It received a disparaging critique by Rupert Read in the European Review.

Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids

In 2011 Caplan published a book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, arguing that people often work too hard in child-rearing, and as a result, they are scared of the idea of having children. Caplan's book urged parents to relax with respect to child-rearing. The book argues that as the perceived costs (in terms of child-rearing expense and effort) of having children fell, it made sense to have more children based on the basic theory of supply and demand. The book was reviewed in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, RealClearMarkets and the Washington Times. The book also led to debates sponsored by The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. The Guardian had Caplan debating "Tiger Mom" Amy Chua on the merits of strict parenting style. The book was also featured in a story on National Public Radio. Kirkus Reviews described it as "Inconsistent and unpersuasive."

The Case Against Education

The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money, published in 2018 by the Princeton University Press. Drawing on the economic concept of job market signaling and research in educational psychology, the book argues that much of higher education is very inefficient and has only a small effect in improving human capital, contrary to much of the conventional consensus in Labor economics that Caplan claims take the human capital theory for granted.

Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration

Caplan and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith created the graphic non-fiction book Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, which was released on October 29, 2019.

Tyler Cowen called it a "a landmark in economic education, how to present economic ideas, and the integration of economic analysis and graphic visuals." The Economist praised it as “a model of respectful, persuasive argument”.

Kevin D. Williamson concluded a review of the book with "But Professor Caplan’s argument is multifaceted, energetically presented, fun to read, and worth giving some real attention to if only as an exercise in clarifying one’s own thinking about the question."

Open borders

Caplan was cited as one of the leading proponents of the open borders position in articles in The Atlantic and Vox. He has also been quoted in other mainstream press pieces on immigration in outlets such as the Huffington Post and Time magazine. In the Winter 2012 issue of the peer-reviewed Cato Journal, Caplan published a paper titled "Why Should We Restrict Immigration?", where he makes the moral and economic case for open borders while addressing various objections to his stance with practical solutions. All these ideas are more fully developed in Caplan's most recent book, Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration.

Anarcho-capitalism

Caplan's anarcho-capitalist views were discussed by Brian Doherty in his book Radicals for Capitalism and in Reason magazine. Caplan has claimed that anarcho-capitalists have a better claim on the history of anarchist thought than mainstream left-anarchists. Because of this, Caplan has criticized one of the most notable examples of an anarchist-inspired society, Revolutionary Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, in an essay entitled "The Anarcho-Statists of Spain."

Ayn Rand and Objectivism

After having long shed a youthful infatuation with the works of Russian American writer Ayn Rand and her philosophical system of Objectivism, in 2004 Caplan wrote in his essay 'An Intellectual Biography', "I rejected Christianity because I determined that it was, to be blunt, idiotic. I rejected Objectivism and Austrianism, in contrast, as mixtures of deep truths and unfortunate mistakes. Let me begin with the deep truths. The Objectivists were right to insist that reality is objective, human reason able to grasp it, and scepticism without merit. They correctly hold that humans have free will, morality is objective, and the pursuit of self-interest typically morally right". He lists Michael Huemer as an influence in steering him away from objectivism.

In his essay, "Atlas Shrugged and Public Choice: The Obvious Parallels", Caplan lauds Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged as making "an important contribution to social science."

He is married to Corina Caplan, with four children, and resides in Oakton, Virginia.