University | Munk Debates

Bryan Caplan

"Funding education is an exercise in futility. The more education people have, the more they will need in order to look impressive."

Bryan Caplan is a Professor of Economics at George Mason University, and New York Times Bestselling author. 
 
He’s written 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). He blogs for EconLog, and has 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, and appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN.
 
An openly nerdy man who loves role-playing games and graphic novels, he lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his wife and four kids.
 
 

Nicholas Dirks

"Many of the things students learn in college are critical for the very functioning of our democracy and civil society."

Nicholas Dirks is a professor of history and anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, where he served as the 10th Chancellor of the University. An internationally renowned historian and anthropologist specializing in the study of South Asia, he is the author or editor of seven major books on the history and anthropology of South Asia and the British empire, as well as many articles and essays on themes ranging from social theory and globalization to education and the history and future of knowledge production. 

Before coming to Berkeley, Dirks was the executive vice president for the arts and sciences and dean of the faculty at Columbia University, where he had been Franz Boas Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology.  Dirks also taught at Caltech and the University of Michigan.