Meet the Authors

Bryan Caplan discussion his book on Radio National
There is according to Bryan Caplan a huge gap between what economists and the general public believe when it comes to public policy. Voters, he says, are often wrong because they respond in an emotional or irrational way. He also argues that voters in the US aren't necessarily motivated purely by self interest.


Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire and the Birth of Europe
In the middle of the 6th century history's first pandemic killed 25 million people and decimated the Roman Empire, being led by the last great emporer, Justinian. Before Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that carries bubonic plague, was through, both Rome and Persia were easy pickings for the armies of Muhammad on their conquering march out of Arabia. William Rosen tells the story of how the plague marked the end of a multinational imperium and the birth of European nation-states