AIER’s Bastiat Society program in Nashville hosted an in-person event on March 28, 2023, with Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University.

Many libertarians argue that the welfare state isn't all that bad. Caplan argues, however, that long-standing libertarian objections to the welfare state have stood the test of time. They may not be popular, but they're true.

About the Speaker: Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University and New York Times Bestselling author.

Bryan wrote The Myth of the Rational Voter, named “the best political book of the year” by the New York Times, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, and Open Borders (co-authored with Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's Zach Weinersmith). His latest project, Poverty: Who To Blame, is now well underway.

Professor Caplan recently served as a visiting scholar at the MTSU Political Economy Research Institute and presented on the science and ethics of immigration and housing. He is the editor and chief writer for Bet On It, the blog hosted by the Salem Center for Policy at the University of Texas., and has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, Atlantic, American Economic Review, Economic Journal, Journal of Law and Economics, and Intelligence. He has also appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN. Bryan is an openly nerdy man who loves role-playing games and graphic novels, he lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his wife and four kids.