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Intended Consequences
August 21, 2020
Kevin O’Neill calls in for hour one talking technology companies, distribution strategy and a lack of competition. The ‘Snarky Professor’, Hal Snarr of Westminster College, calls in for hour two talking Federal Reserve policy, tax code loopholes and much more.
Articles Referenced
Video: Thomas Sowell on unintended consequences of policy
Guests & Co-Hosts
KEVIN O’NEILL
Kevin O’Neill is our Wednesday morning sports guy. His segment emphasizes what happens off the field as much as what happens on the field. All businesses have their intrigue, but the inner workings of sports organizations find their way into the public domain frequently. Unless a rant from the Chief spills into Kevin’s segment (not an unusual occurrence), he will highlight some of those sports related business issues; but be advised that those highlights usually come with an opinion. Read more.
HAL SNARR
Hal W. Snarr is the son of a third generation Idaho potato farmer who was raised in an ignoble but resolute Mormon household. His career is a result of a fortuitousseries of accidents.
Hal got his first taste for teaching after shining in Naval Nuclear Power School, but was not aware of what a Ph.D. was until he took Calculus I, II and III for fun at Idaho State University. A couple of years later he found himself teaching algebra and proving theorems in the master of science in mathematics program at ISU. Although he was having fun, he wanted to use mathematics in more meaningful ways. He discovered how to do this while taking mathematical economics at ISU. In this course, he gained an intuition of the eigenvalue. This set him on his present path. After all, wouldn’t you do the same if you had just learned that negative eigenvalues mean you are on the peak of a three dimensional surface because steps taken in thex and y directions are downward?
His unconventional journey gives him a unique insight into the cohorts he studies.Most economists were not raised by low-income single mothers who had to, on occasion, reluctantly use public assistance and purple money (old school food stamps). As a teenager, he also observed beer-for-purple money exchanges.
Between 2004 and 2013, Hal was taught economics and statistics at North Carolina A&T State University. In 2013, Hal accepted a similar position at Westminster College. He regularly teaches money and banking, macroeconomic principles, business statistics, introductory regression analysis, and labor economics. His research studies how welfare and other policies affect labor supply, marriage, fertility, migration, dependency, and poverty.
Hal’s hobbies include producing instructional videos for his YouTube channel, The Snarr Institute, and commenting on economic policy proposals and politics on Twitter and Facebook. He occasionally writes op-eds for PolicyMic and OpEdnews. He enjoys home improvement projects, vehicle repair, watching the news and movies, walking, attending church services, a good debate, and spending time and traveling with his family.