Bryan Caplan, New York Times Bestselling author of Open Borders, The Myth of the Rational Voter, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, and The Case Against Education, has been blogging for EconLog since 2005. Labor Econ Versus the World collects the very best of his EconLog essays on the science and ethics of work.

Caplan gives readers a tantalizing bundle of puzzling questions. Why is illegal immigration so low? What's the harm of banning jerky employers? How lazy are professors, really?

He provides a long list of contrarian answers. Immigration is grossly underrated. Education is grossly overrated. "If you don't like it, quit" does far more for workers than government ever has.

At the same time, Caplan happily embraces unfashionable yet obvious truths. Government regulation kills jobs. Most professors have a poor grasp of the real world. And bourgeois common sense is correct: Work hard, plan ahead, and your odds of finding prosperity and joy in the First World are excellent.