This is great throughout. A lot of familiar ground for Epstein fans, but a lot of new insights as well:

Is Richard Epstein the Smartest Man in America?

Steven Hayward thinks so:

Actually, at the risk of offending a lot of brilliant friends, can I just declare Epstein to be the smartest man in American and just get it over with?

This kind of endorsement makes me feel a little less crazy for thinking Epstein is a cut above the rest. Of course, I'd like to know just who Steven thinks is smarter outside of America.

More from Epstein University

Another great addition to Epstein University:



If you haven't listened to the whole series, do yourself a favor and dive in!

Epstein on Picketty

Today is the very first Tweet 'n Blog Tuesday! By setting aside some time the first Tuesday of every month, I hope to be better about keeping this blog up-to-date. :)

Lots of economists have weighed in with fantastic take-downs of Picketty's book. From what I remember of these videos, Epstein deals less with the particulars of Picketty's argument and instead offers a more general critique of the progressive worldview:



Here's a shorter one:


And here he is with Troy Senik:

Richard Epstein on Health Disparity

Maybe next Tweet 'n Blog Tuesday I'll post a compilation of Epstein on healthcare. But for now I'll just post a really good one I watched recently. Stick through to the Q&A at the end!

Richard Epstein on Natural Law

A worthy addition to Epstein University, suggested by Zak Colangelo.

Proust on Richard Epstein

My friend and fellow Epstein enthusiast Brian Denton emailed this to me, and it's too good not to share. This is from Proust writing about Beethoven, but I think it applies just as well to Epstein:

The reason why a work of genius is not easily admired from the first is that the man who has created it is extraordinary, that few other men resemble him. It is his work itself that, by fertilising the rare minds capable of understanding it, will make them increase and multiply. It was Beethoven's quartets themselves (the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth) that devoted half a century to forming fashioning and enlarging the audience for Beethoven's quartets, thus marking, like every great work of art, an advance if not in the quality of artists at least in the community of minds, largely composed today of what was not to be found when the work first appeared, that is to say of persons capable of appreciating it.

Proust, Marcel. Remembrance of Things Past, Volume 1. Translated by C.K. Mocrieff and Terence Kilmartin (New York: Vintage Books,1982), 572.

NYU Symposium on Richard Epstein's Book

NYU recently hosted a symposium on Epstein's new book, The Classical Liberal Constitution. The critiques are some of the smartest and most thoughtful I've heard. Ultimately I think Epstein survives the gauntlet intact and vindicated, but not for a lack of worthy challenges. So far I haven't found any video of Epstein's response, but if you find it please let me know. Enjoy!

Epstein Symposium at NYU Law

NYU Law is hosting a symposium celebrating Richard Epstein's new book The Classical Liberal Constitution tomorrow (2/10/2014). It is an all-day event at the law school, with panels focusing on three main aspects of the book. If you're a fan of Epstein and you live in NY you'd be a fool to miss it! Click here to check out the event page for more info.

Epstein University Getting Some Love!

Wow! Epstein University got a shout out from two of my favorite economists.

Here is Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution.

Here is Mike Munger at his blog, Kids Prefer Cheese.

Those guys rock!

Mycroft Holmes or Richard Epstein?

The following passage is from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans :

The conclusions of every department are passed to him, and he is the central exchange, the clearinghouse, which makes out the balance. All other men are specialists, but his specialism is omniscience.

Is it describing Mycroft Holmes' (Sherlock's older, even smarter brother) or Richard Epstein?

     or     ?