In this episode of Words & Numbers, James and Ant announce their new partnership with CiVL and reflect on the state of modern life. Using Jurassic World and a Nobel Prize winner’s comments as a springboard, they unpack the economics of innovation, incentives, and monopolies. They take on popular claims that life has gotten worse—breaking down the real costs of housing, cars, and higher education over time—and challenge the doom-and-gloom narrative with hard data and perspective.
The debut of the new “So What?” segment offers concrete takeaways: count your blessings, question the media’s distortions, and don’t believe everything “everybody knows.”
Words and Numbers is a CiVL Original Podcast.
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Quick Hits
https://www.jurassicworld.com
https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2025-07-04/charles-rice-nobel-prize-winner-in-medicine-its-a-crime-that-a-drug-exists-that-could-cure-everyone-yet-not-everybody-has-access-to-it.html
https://www.thetimes.com/world/latin-america/article/gringo-go-home-why-mexico-is-turning-against-us-immigrants-cmq2qsv2j
Foolishness of the Week
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fema-removed-dozens-camp-mystic-111716138.html
Words & Numbers Backstage
https://youtu.be/i73H047bID8?si=zUTcXrBYDolwTVgl
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Q
https://www.bankrate.com/real-estate/average-home-size/#space
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SETA01
More James at Smoke & Stories
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjILow4-ZJpBV-NnmSusZJ_vCuzKUJ4Ig
More Ant on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/antonydavies
Let Us Know What You Think
mailto:wordsandnumberspodcast@gmail.com
Antony Davies on Twitter
https://twitter.com/antonydavies
James R. Harrigan on Twitter
https://twitter.com/JamesRHarrigan
#AntonyDavies #JamesRHarrigan #WordsAndNumbers #economics #government #politics #policy #libertarian #classicalliberal #podcast #educational
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