ZadekpediaThe Hoover Institution enters The Bob Zadek Show almost exclusively through one person: the legal scholar Richard Epstein, who is identified by his affiliation with it whenever he appears. Bob Zadek introduces Epstein as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, which he describes as a very important think tank in California, in the same breath as Epstein’s professorship at NYU School of Law and his emeritus status and senior lectureship at the University of Chicago Trump Vs. Free Trade with Richard Epstein (2017). The same affiliation is repeated in later introductions, where Epstein is described as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of law at NYU, and as the host of a Hoover Institution podcast, The Libertarian, who often publishes the blog Defining Ideas An Intellectual Discussion of Sexual Harassment with Richard Epstein (2018).
Epstein’s affiliation as introduction
The Institution’s role is to establish Epstein’s credentials before he speaks. In the trade episode, Zadek tells listeners he went to one of the wisest men he knows, Professor Richard Epstein at NYU School of Law, and lists the Hoover senior fellowship among his qualifications, along with more than fifteen books Trump Vs. Free Trade with Richard Epstein (2017). In the climate episode, Epstein is introduced as a professor of law at NYU with a trained scientific background and schooling in economics, and the speaker list identifies him as professor of law at NYU and the Hoover Institution Richard Epstein on Climate Change (2017). In the sexual harassment episode, Zadek welcomes Epstein back for a third time and again names the Hoover senior fellowship first among his positions, adding that Epstein hosts The Libertarian, a Hoover Institution podcast, and often publishes the blog Defining Ideas An Intellectual Discussion of Sexual Harassment with Richard Epstein (2018).
The administrative state episode follows the same pattern, presenting Epstein as professor of law at NYU and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution in the context of his book The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State The Dubious Morality of the Modern Administrative State (2020). The 2023 episode on California’s fast-food legislation describes him as teaching law at NYU School of Law, where he founded and heads the Classical Liberal Institute, and as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Which Side Are You On? (2022).
The Institution as publisher
The episodes also show the Hoover Institution in a second capacity: as a publisher whose output the show links to and draws on. In the 2023 episode, the show’s notes link to a Hoover Institution research piece titled “California’s Fast-Food Fumble” under the Defining Ideas banner, and separately link to The Libertarian, identified as a Hoover Institution publication under Defining Ideas Which Side Are You On? (2022). The same episode’s link list also points to Hoover Institution research on halting the EPA’s takeover of energy markets.
Across episodes
The episodes show no development in how the Hoover Institution is treated. It appears in five episodes spanning 2017 to 2023, and in each it functions the same way: as the affiliation attached to Richard Epstein in his introduction, and, in the 2023 episode, as the publisher of linked research. No speaker in these episodes discusses the Institution as a subject, disputes its role, or describes it changing over time; the treatment is uniform across the earlier and later episodes.
Guests and episodes
3 appearances by 1 guests, 2018–2022. Guests A–Z by first name.
- Richard Epstein ×3 (Hoover Institution and NYU Law Professor) — An Intellectual Discussion of Sexual Harassment with Richard Epstein (2018) — Evolution of Sexual Harassment Law and Due Process.; The Year in Review (2021) — Review of 2021 Economic and Policy Events.; California’s Food Fight (2022) — Constitutional challenge to California Proposition 12 pork regulations.