Some of the clearest comments I’ve seen on vaccine development and employment have come from the economist John Cochrane of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and formerly of the University of Chicago.

Could better policy have prevented the Texas blackouts?

Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning have again raised fears of large-scale job losses. And while labor-market adaptation is likely to stave off permanent high unemployment, it cannot be counted on to prevent a sharp rise in inequality.

If I were to rank post-World War II public intellectuals and social theorists, the Hoover Institution’s Thomas Sowell would take the top spot. There could be a real debate about who is #2, but it would take place a long way from the top of the mountain, where Sowell would sit alone. Sowell is a brilliant economist and a beautiful writer who believes, above all, that we can’t have a serious discussion if we don’t get the theory straight and the facts right. The Free To Choose Network has made Sowell even more accessible with their film Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World.