"The real price of everything is the toil and trouble of acquiring it." -Adam Smith (WoN, Bk I, Chapter 5)
In which the Knower of Important Things shows how transaction costs explain literally everything. Plus TWEJ, and answers to letters.
If YOU have questions, submit them to our email at taitc.email@gmail.com
There are two kinds of episodes here:
1. For the most part, episodes June-August are weekly, short (<20 mins), and address a few topics.
2. Episodes September-May are longer (1 hour), and monthly, with an interview with a guest.
Finally, a quick note: This podcast is NOT for Stacy Hockett. He wanted you to know that.....
A Pension Promise Only Works When Politics Honors It
Send us Fan Mail We walk through how Chile converts retirement savings into lifelong income and why inflation protection and competition make the design work. Then politics collides with contract law as COVID-era withdrawals test credible commitment and raise transaction costs across the financial system. • how AFP accounts build national savings and deep capital markets • why a pension is more than a savings account, especially under longevity risk • how the renta vitalici...
25 Aug 2026
God Speaks Hebrew But Understands Yiddish
Send us Fan Mail We trace how Hebrew goes from a “museum language” to a living vernacular by treating language as a coordination good with huge network effects and real transaction costs. We follow Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s strategy for lowering those costs, then watch the Technion language fight prove Hebrew can carry science, not just prayer. • Hebrew’s revival as a rare case of full language reboot at scale • Jewish linguistic diversity and why German, French, Russian, Polish, and Y...
19 Aug 2026
The Main Course was Transaction Costs: Milton's Dinner with Ronald
Send us Fan Mail We tell the story of the Chicago dinner where Ronald Coase walks into a hostile room, and by the end everyone votes with him, led by Milton Friedman changing his mind in real time. Along the way, we unpack why transaction costs, not moral blame, often explain when law and institutions shape outcomes. • the Aaron Director dinner and the vote that flips • why Milton Friedman becomes a political symbol and lightning rod • critiques from the right and left on m...
Host of The Answer Is Transaction Costs?
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