Bryan Caplan

Caplan received a B.A. in economics from the University of California, BerkeleyUniversity of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) is a campus of the University of California system; the University of California was founded in 1868 through a merger of two institutions and moved to Berkeley, California, in 1873.Open the full entry in 1993 and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private university and Ivy League member in Princeton, New Jersey. Chartered on October 22, 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and adopted its present name in 1896. Undergraduate education leads to A.B. and B.S.E. degrees and emphasizes small-group discussion, independent research and residential college life. Graduate education spans the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. As of October 2026, Christopher L. Eisgruber was president. Its 2026–27 operating budget was $3.407 billion, including $342 million for undergraduate aid.Open the full entry in 1997.⁠[1]

Caplan joined George Mason University as an assistant professor of economics in 1997, became associate professor in 2003 and has been professor of economics since 2010; he has also served as assistant director of graduate studies since 2004 and is affiliated with the university’s Department of Economics and the Mercatus Center. His fields include public economics, public choice, psychology and economics, and the economics of the family.⁠[1][2]

From 2005 to 2022 Caplan wrote regularly for the EconLog blog of the Library of Economics and Liberty; in 2005 he received the Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties, and in 2006 an article he wrote with Edward Stringham won first place in the Templeton Enterprise Awards.⁠[3][1]

In 2007 Princeton University Press published Caplan’s The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, which the Financial TimesFinancial TimesThe Financial Times (FT) is a London-based English-language business and financial news organization, known for its salmon-pink newspaper and its motto “Without Fear and Without Favour.” It was owned successively by the British Pearson group and Japan’s Nikkei Inc., and today digital subscriptions are its main source of revenue.Open the full entry named a best book of 2007.⁠[1]

In 2011 Basic Books published Caplan’s Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think. From April 2011 he also blogged regularly for Psychology Today.⁠[1]

On May 8, 2018, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) released the a16z Podcast episode “a16z Podcast: The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow’s End,” hosted by Marc AndreessenMarc AndreessenMarc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, a co-founder and general partner of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). While in college he helped develop the graphical web browser Mosaic, then co-founded Netscape and Loudcloud (later renamed Opsware), and has long served as a director of Meta; he has also published essays such as “Why Software Is Eating the World.”Open the full entry, a16z cofounder and general partner, and a16z editor Sonal Chokshi, who discussed with Caplan his book The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money. The episode was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[4][5]

Caplan argued in the episode that education pays off in the labor market mainly because of signaling and credential inflation rather than learning, and that society should therefore stop investing more in it. The episode tested this view against counterarguments, including that education teaches “learning to learn,” helps employers sort for personality traits and aids developing economies, and discussed problems and possible solutions as well as how technology and science fiction relate to the topic.⁠[4]

In 2019 First Second published Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration, a graphic nonfiction work by Caplan and the cartoonist Zach Weinersmith.⁠[1][3]

Caplan’s other books include Build, Baby, Build (with Ady Branzei), Labor Econ Vs. the World, How Evil Are Politicians?, Don’t Be a Feminist, Voters as Mad Scientists, You Will Not Stampede Me, Self-Help Is Like a Vaccine, Pro-Market and Pro-Business and You Have No Right to Your Culture, among them eight collections of essays. His website announces Unbeatable (University of Chicago Press, April 2027) and Blockade, with Don Boudreaux and Zach Weinersmith (Cato Institute, September 2027).⁠[3]

He is the editor and chief writer of the Substack newsletter Bet On It.⁠[3]

Personal website: https://www.bcaplan.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]

Bet On It (Substack): Official website: https://betonit.substack.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

X: Public account: https://x.com/bryan_caplan (opens in a new window).⁠[3]