Why "the armchair economist" is "not an environmentalist"

Power Hour with Alex Epstein

On this week's Power Hour, Alex Epstein interviews economist Steven Landsburg, professor of economics at The University of Rochester, about how economics can help us understand many realms--including today's "religion of environmentalism."
They discuss:
- How Landsburg's popular book The Armchair Economist came about.
- Why Landsburg regards "people respond to incentives" as the foundation of economics.
- How understanding incentives makes sense of seemingly counterintuitive outcomes, such as recycling programs leading to fewer trees.
- How understanding economics could have vastly improved vaccine distribution in the US.
- The science of ecology vs. the religion of ecology.
- How human beings ability to adapt to climate changes is largely ignored in today's discussions--and why economists don't speak up about it.
- How "environmentalists" treat their personal preferences as morally superior to others' preferences.
- Landsburg's economics-based approach to species extinction.