Did you know that Elon Musk’s “DOGE” project — the misnamed Department of Government Efficiency — ended up costing the government four times more money that it saved? My favorite talk, by far, at this year’s joint meeting of the North American and European economic history societies was “Liberalism’s ouroboros: DOGE and the transition problem in stark relief” by my colleague and friend Scott Scheall (University of Austin). Among other things, Scheall explained why DOGE was such a spectacular failure. (I will summarize the logic of his argument in the next day or two. In the meantime, here is a podcast featuring Professor Scheall.)