Explore every episode of the podcast The Week in Policymaker Ignorance

Scott discusses the role that the ignorance of French policymakers has played in fostering the disaffection currently on violent display in the streets of France.

Scott discusses two recent books, David Zweig's An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions, and Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee's In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, through the lens of his own theoretical analysis of COVID-era policymaking, co-authored with Parker Crutchfield of Western Michigan University.

Scott discusses the key question about the war in Iran - decapitation operation or regime-change war? - through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses one of his works-in-progress, "Liberalism's Ouroboros: DOGE and the Liberal Transition Problem in Stark Relief," which argues that the failures of the Department of Government Efficiency evince the epistemic difficulties inherent in effective liberalization policies.

Scott considers the significance of policymaker ignorance for the recent removal of Nicholas Maduro and ICE protests in Minnesota.

In the sixth and final episode of the series on policymaker ignorance and the Vietnam War, Scott discusses the end of the War and the fall of Saigon, and provides an overview of the series.

Scott discusses the part that policymaker ignorance played in the Vietnam War during the Nixon-Kissinger years.

Your intrepid host examines the role that policymaker ignorance played in some of the crucial events of the Vietnam War between mid-1965 and Spring 1968.

Scott analyzes the series of events and decisions (and lies, lots of lies) that led to the United States taking over the task of fighting the Vietnam War from the South Vietnamese.

Scott analyzes DOGE's activities through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance and briefly considers Trump's tariff policies, whatever, exactly, they might be.

Scott discusses the catastrophic reign of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, the emergence of the Viet Cong and development of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and the calamitous technocratic approach of the Kennedy administration to the Vietnam imbroglio.

Scott discusses the role that policymaker ignorance played in the French decision to try to re-conquer their former colony in Indochina following WWII, the American decision to support the French, and the calamitous Battle of Điện Biên Phủ that ended the First Indochina War.

Scott considers the role that policymaker ignorance played in the failure to contain the Los Angeles fires and the legitimacy of the "climate change" excuse for said failure.

Scott considers the 2024 American Presidential Election, the candidates, and their campaign promises through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses the relationship between the widespread obsession with maximizing consensus, increasing calls for censorship in Western societies, and the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses various methods of promoting popular sovereignty in contexts where policymakers are too ignorant to realize goals associated with voters' preferences.

Scott discusses the problems that policymaker ignorance raises for democratic government.

Scott discusses the Democrats' price control policy and the Republicans' proposed industrial policy through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott returns to address a few issues discussed on previous episodes.

Scott discusses a classic work of academic political science, James C. Scott's Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed

Scott returns after some time away to discuss policymaker ignorance and university administrators, and to offer some updates about a number of stories discussed on previous episodes.

Scott discusses the role that ignorance played in the failed Obama-Biden Iran appeasement policy.

Scott discusses the role that policymaker ignorance played in laying the groundwork for the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks on innocent Israeli civilians.

Scott considers how we should react to policymaker ignorance and what might be done to mitigate it.

Scott discusses the mind-boggling stupidity of Canadian politicians.

A short diatribe on voters' refusal to support competent candidates.

We made mistakes, but we're not going to tell you which of the decisions we made were mistakes, because we reserve the right to make the same mistakes again, when politically convenient...

Scott discusses the part that policymaker ignorance played in the tragic events in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, in early August.

Scott discusses the part that policymaker ignorance played in the Paris peacemakers' treatment of Germany and Japan.

Scott lays out the major actors and a timeline of significant events at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.

Scott discusses the state of play at the beginning of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points," and goes off on a rant about how much he hates Wilson.

Scott considers the implicit assumptions underlying various responses to two recent news items, the Supreme Court's decision in the affirmative action cases and the injunction against the Biden Administration's internet censorship program.

In this last part of a three-part series, Scott analyzes the role that policymaker ignorance played in a number of crucial events in the lead up to the beginning of World War One.

In the second part of a multi-part series on policymaker ignorance and the start of World War One, Scott discusses the pre-history of the Great War.

The first part of a multi-part series on the role of policymaker ignorance in the decision to go to war in 1914. In this episode, Scott lays out the cast of characters, describes some narratives, and explores some themes to feature in subsequent parts of the series.

Scott discusses some prior co-authored work on policymaker ignorance and the history of nutrition policy in the United States. Here's a link to a preprint version of the paper discussed in the episode:

Social and Scientific Disorder as Epistemic Phenomena, or The Consequences of Government Dietary Guidelines

Co-authored with William Butos and Thomas McQuade. Butos and McQuade's recent (and relevant) book can be found here:

https://www.amazon.com/Hayekian-Systems-Structure-Interaction-Foundations-ebook/dp/B0BRYNMSKQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=C57NKABN712R&keywords=hayekian+systems&qid=1685833658&sprefix=hayekian+syste%2Caps%2C218&sr=8-1

Scott discusses the wisdom (or lack thereof) of the EPA's new proposed greenhouse-gas emissions standards.

Scott considers the Durham Report in the light of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Do policymakers know enough to slow the rise of the oceans and heal our planet?

Scott revisits several topics discussed in prior episodes that have once again been in the news recently and looks forward to a future episode on policymaker ignorance and environmental policymaking.

Scott discusses Canada's Online Streaming Act and the RESTRICT Act currently making its way through the American Congress.

In this week's episode of the WIPMI podcast, Scott discusses the role that policymaker ignorance played in the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan in 2021, and offers some updates on stories discussed in recent episodes.

Scott analyzes the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance.

Scott discusses the new multi-part series on the general problem of ignorance in decision-making just started on the Problem of Policymaker Ignorance Substack page and offers some brief remarks on the latest news regarding bailouts, and the ongoing protests in Israel and France.

Scott discusses Federal Reserve policy over the last fifteen years or so through the lens of Christopher Leonard's book, The Lords of Easy Money, and its significance for the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, the subsequent bailout, etc.

Scott discusses this week's additions to the Problem of Policymaker Ignorance Substack Page, plus the so-called "Lockdown Files" and how not to revive America's semiconductor industry.

Scott considers the Great Chinese Balloon Race Across America and the Not-So-Great Norfolk Southern Ohio Train Derailment in the light of the problem of policymaker ignorance.