Joakim Book
Research Fellow
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Let’s Cancel Environmentalism: A Triple Review of Environmentalism’s Opponents
“We need to cancel environmentalism – and replace it with a scientifically sound and carefully deliberated environmental humanism. A humanism where damages and harm to the planet matters, but so do human life, wealth, and well-being.” ~ Joakim Book
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Against the Bambi Syndrome: Nature Is Not Nice
“Nature may be pristine, but nature is not friendly. With climate change making nature even less secure, we would do well to let technology and global economic growth protect us. With wealth and technology, we can both tame it and protect against its worst excesses.” ~ Joakim Book
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In Defense of Bitcoin Billionaires
“It’s refreshing to read an account of early Bitcoin – not the programming, the cryptography, or the scandals, but the dreamy futurists and their financiers.” ~ Joakim Book
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Who Bears the Burden of Dollars’ Falling Purchasing Power?
“Inflation is not a one-trick pony, with an easily predictable outcome. Rather, it does several things at the same time. Looking at claims like the eradication of a dollar’s purchasing power is misleading: it is not the case that inflation has ripped off savers by eradicating 97% of their savings’ worth.” ~ Joakim Book
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The Economic Performance of Coronavirus Sweden
“Economically, as far as we can tell, Sweden has been comparatively successful, but the projections between various economic institutions and statistics agencies still vary way too much for us to be entirely certain about this. In a year where models and forecasts have been widely off the mark, we should interpret this conservatively.” ~ Joakim…
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Welcome to the Frankfurtian World
“Wherever one turns, the political discourse seems entirely uninterested in the Enlightenment project – the values of 17th and 18th century philosophers imploring us to use reason to approach scientific truth and an intelligent and civil society.” ~ Joakim Book
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Who Owns Leftover and Abandoned Bar Food?
“Figuring out the exact property rights isn’t worth the hassle: it’s too little and too rare to care about enforcing whatever legal right might be applicable in various jurisdictions. In practice, the ownership of leftover food is up to the social norms in the country you’re in, or even the attitude of the staff at…
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On Externalities and Noise
“There is no world where trade-offs don’t apply, where we can have all the nice things we want without anybody, anywhere, getting upset. Externalities are everywhere, but if we want to live prosperous lives, some part of those lives will be impacted by others. Get over it.” ~ Joakim Book
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David Goodhart’s Road to Somewhere
“Goodhart frequently emphasizes that the trends in opinion that he reports are not figments of his imagination, but real opinions held by real people. That much seems accurate, and as a description of British political beliefs, his book makes useful contributions. He has failed to show why the fact that some people are convinced by…
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What Greta Thunberg Forgets About Climate Change
“Perhaps Greta’s message for politicians to listen to the scientists and take real action has hit home. In one sense, they are already well on the way to following her advice. They read chapter 10 of IPCC’s AR5 report, where they learned that climate change is important – but that other socioeconomic developments matter much…
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•
Let’s Cancel Environmentalism: A Triple Review of Environmentalism’s Opponents
“We need to cancel environmentalism – and replace it with a scientifically sound and carefully deliberated environmental humanism. A humanism where damages and harm to the planet matters, but so do human life, wealth, and well-being.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
Against the Bambi Syndrome: Nature Is Not Nice
“Nature may be pristine, but nature is not friendly. With climate change making nature even less secure, we would do well to let technology and global economic growth protect us. With wealth and technology, we can both tame it and protect against its worst excesses.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
In Defense of Bitcoin Billionaires
“It’s refreshing to read an account of early Bitcoin – not the programming, the cryptography, or the scandals, but the dreamy futurists and their financiers.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
Who Bears the Burden of Dollars’ Falling Purchasing Power?
“Inflation is not a one-trick pony, with an easily predictable outcome. Rather, it does several things at the same time. Looking at claims like the eradication of a dollar’s purchasing power is misleading: it is not the case that inflation has ripped off savers by eradicating 97% of their savings’ worth.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
The Economic Performance of Coronavirus Sweden
“Economically, as far as we can tell, Sweden has been comparatively successful, but the projections between various economic institutions and statistics agencies still vary way too much for us to be entirely certain about this. In a year where models and forecasts have been widely off the mark, we should interpret this conservatively.” ~ Joakim…
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•
Welcome to the Frankfurtian World
“Wherever one turns, the political discourse seems entirely uninterested in the Enlightenment project – the values of 17th and 18th century philosophers imploring us to use reason to approach scientific truth and an intelligent and civil society.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
Who Owns Leftover and Abandoned Bar Food?
“Figuring out the exact property rights isn’t worth the hassle: it’s too little and too rare to care about enforcing whatever legal right might be applicable in various jurisdictions. In practice, the ownership of leftover food is up to the social norms in the country you’re in, or even the attitude of the staff at…
-
•
On Externalities and Noise
“There is no world where trade-offs don’t apply, where we can have all the nice things we want without anybody, anywhere, getting upset. Externalities are everywhere, but if we want to live prosperous lives, some part of those lives will be impacted by others. Get over it.” ~ Joakim Book
-
•
David Goodhart’s Road to Somewhere
“Goodhart frequently emphasizes that the trends in opinion that he reports are not figments of his imagination, but real opinions held by real people. That much seems accurate, and as a description of British political beliefs, his book makes useful contributions. He has failed to show why the fact that some people are convinced by…
-
•
What Greta Thunberg Forgets About Climate Change
“Perhaps Greta’s message for politicians to listen to the scientists and take real action has hit home. In one sense, they are already well on the way to following her advice. They read chapter 10 of IPCC’s AR5 report, where they learned that climate change is important – but that other socioeconomic developments matter much…