What Happened to Liberal Democracy? | Interview: Daron Acemoglu

It’s time to be honest: Jonah Goldberg can’t remember if he’s ever had a Nobel Prize-winning guest on The Remnant. If that shocks you, calm down. It’s called getting old. After today, however, Jonah can say with certainty that he has, as he is joined by Nobel laureate in economics Daron Acemoglu. Listen in as Jonah and Daron light up the Remnant bingo card like a Hanukkah bush, covering liberal democracy, community, subsidiarity, the welfare state, status, prosperity gaps, AI, automation, China, abundance, the working class, Zohran Mamdani, and the Democratic Party. Show Notes: The Remnant is a production of ⁠The Dispatch⁠, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a nonpartisan perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including the Saturday Ruminant, audio versions of all our articles and newsletters, and Jonah’s twice-weekly G-File—⁠click here⁠. Instructions on how to set up your members-only feed can be found here, and if you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member ⁠by clicking here⁠. Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Dispatch, based in Washington, D.C. Prior to that, enormous lizards roamed the Earth. More immediately prior to that, Jonah spent two decades at National Review, where he was a senior editor, among other things. He is also a bestselling author, longtime columnist for the Los Angeles Times, commentator for CNN, and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. When he is not writing the G-File or hosting The Remnant podcast, he finds real joy in family time, attending to his dogs and cat, and blaming Steve Hayes for various things. The podcast transcription below was generated using artificial intelligence and may include occasional errors or misspellings. Music 0:00 [instrumental music] [groaning] Ladies and gentlemen. Music 0:16 Can I please have your attention? Can you dig it? Music 0:23 [crowd cheering] Jonah Goldberg 0:27 Greetings, dear listeners. This is Jonah Goldberg, host of the Remnant Podcast, brought to you by The Dispatch and Dispatch Media. I'm absolutely thrilled about today's guest, our 1st Nobel Prize winner, I believe. Um, I'll be really embarrassed if I'm wrong about that 'cause that means I've really forgotten somebody else important. [laughs] Um, uh, but Daron Acemoglu, I-I-- Am I saying it right? Jonah Goldberg 0:51 Acemoglu, okay. It's one of those, as-- I'm sure you've had your name butchered worse than I just did, but still. Um, w-was the co-recipient of the 2024, um, Nobel Prize in Economics. Uh, his most famous book, which people have probably heard me talk about more than once, uh, was, uh, co-written with James Robinson, Interactive transcripts are available to Premium members. Join to follow along with the audio. Join Now More We Think You’d Like