Alex Tabarrok

And that means you're gonna have to get news from other places.

I get mine from Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok and, uh, Tyler Cowen.

They're just data-driven dudes, and they're quirky and ironic and funny and direct, and that's where I get my news from, and I get my news from people who are on scene.

I call actual people if I need some information on something.

I consume media from two places.

One is, and I've talked about them openly, I check in with the Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok, and Tyler Cowen every day.

And they're economists who are Just brilliant and wise.

And I don't agree with them 100% of the time, but their take is almost always accurate.

We had a similar situation in my high school class where we had two supreme math talents on the IMO team.

One, Alex, wanted to skip directly to graduate school, which he did, but at the cost of going to what I think was UPenn, whereas the other similarly talented math student, Michael Devlin, let college happen and in exchange got to go to Harvard.

I was not as impressive and got neither of these choices.

Heading, beware stolen valor.

Thus, Harvard decided things had gotten rather out of hand and tried a grade cap.

Grade caps, such as saying Harvard classes can only give 20% As, can solve grade inflation per se, but they mean that students get penalized for taking harder classes.

Alex Tabarrok says this makes them not a good solution, but I would compare this to the situation as it is now.

Don't tougher classes usually give out less As, not more? There are some exceptions, but lots of dirt easy courses are mostly As, and by default, very hard courses are relatively stingy.

We had a similar situation in my high school class where we had two supreme math talents on the IMO team.

One, Alex, wanted to skip directly to graduate school, which he did, but at the cost of going to what I think was UPenn, whereas the other similarly talented math student, Michael Devlin, let college happen and in exchange got to go to Harvard.

I was not as impressive and got neither of these choices.

Heading.

Thus, Harvard decided things had gotten rather out of hand and tried a grade cap.

Grade caps, such as saying Harvard classes can only give 20% As, can solve grade inflation per se, but they mean that students get penalized for taking harder classes.

Alex Tabarrok says this makes them not a good solution, but I would compare this to the situation as it is now.

Don't tougher classes usually give out less As, not more? There are some exceptions, but lots of dirt easy courses are mostly As, and by default, very hard courses are relatively stingy.

... was the main character, right? Like, he's always been very dismissive of AI risk, and he wrote some chapters about it.

But then Scott Alexander came out a week ago, and he's like, "Pinker, you've done enough.

You, you keep trying to discredit us, and you kind of character assassinate us, and you laugh at AI doomerism.

Let's hash it out, me versus you." And then he ki- he kinda went...

Uh, when I last saw him, he hadn't read it yet, so I don't know.

I haven't... [laughs] But, but I will say...

But d- but I, I really do wanna defend him in this case, because what Scott Alexan- Scott Alexander said, didn't just say, "I challenge you to expose your views to my, you know, rigorous cross-examination.

Let's debate." He said, "Let's have a debate.

Heading.

Guest lecture from Alex Tabarrok on regulatory capture.

Quote.

End quote.

Alex Tabarrok puts on his professor hat and gives us a well-needed lecture on what regulatory capture actually looks like.

Welcome to 2026 where we need to say things like.

Quote.

Alex Tabarrok, A Marginal Revolution.

But many people still think the opposite, so let us be even more explicit.

Quote, Alex Tabarrok on Monday, "Global AI stocks fell today.

Entirely consistent with my view that calls for AI safety are not an attempt at regulatory capture and entirely inconsistent with the supposedly cynic-sophisticated view that AI fears are all 4D chess moves for higher revenue." End quote.

Michael Burry has moved on from calling AI a bubble to calling it a cartel.

There's an image here.

Grunge military poster, AI first war department, saluting figure, sine die mil logo.

Alex Tabarrok.

"Imagine the Department of War tweeting 'utilitarians in shambles.