In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER economists Dave Hebert and Julia Cartwright to introduce the Defending Freedom, Combating Collectivism team.

They examine the rise of collectivism on both the right and left, how political incentives fuel cronyism and redistribution, and why politicians so often pick winners and losers at consumers' expense.

What does this growing struggle mean for economic freedom, human flourishing, and the American future?

In the debut episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller (Senior Research Fellow at AIER) sits down with Samuel Gregg, President of the American Institute for Economic Research, to peel back the layers of modern economic debate.

Moving beyond the dry jargon of spreadsheets and data points, Mueller and Gregg explore why the battle for free markets has shifted from a technical argument to a deeply moral one. They discuss the rising tide of "collectivism" appearing on both ends of the political spectrum and why the "everyman" should care about the philosophical foundations of trade, sound money, and individual liberty.

What is wealth? Why shouldn't the government own stakes in corporations? And what are some non-market problems with tariffs?

Richard Stern joins the show today to discuss.

Richard Stern is Acting Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation.

How much have state budgets been taken over by the federal government? Is anything wrong with the Bureau of Labor Statistics? And what's nationalist about trade surpluses?

Tony Woodlief joins Econception to discuss.

Tony Woodlief is State Policy Network's Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow for SPN's Center for Practical Federalism.

Are the economic doomers right? How does government policy influence which industries thrive in America? Can rich people who think their taxes are too low pay more to the government instead?

Jeremy Horpedahl joins Econception to discuss these questions and more.

Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl is the Director of ACRE and an associate professor of economics at the University of Central Arkansas.

What's the purpose of business? What's the purpose of government? Has 20 years of higher education spending led to better student performance?

Dominic Pino is joined by David Bahnsen to explore these questions on the latest episode of Econception.

David Bahnsen is the founder and managing partner of The Bahnsen Group, a national private wealth management firm managing over $4 billion in client assets. Prior to launching The Bahnsen Group, he spent eight years as a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and six years as a Vice President at UBS. Bahnsen is also a contributor to several prominent outlets and a best-selling author.

What's going on with the market reforms in Argentina? What have other countries done to fix their social security programs? And how did FedEx change the world?

Manhattan Institute Fellow Daniel DiMartino joins Econception to discuss.

What's going on with the Republican tax bill? How different can state budgets really be from one another? And how does Amtrak justify its barely used services?

Adam Michel joins Econception to discuss.

Adam N. Michel is director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, where he focuses on analyzing the economic and budgetary effects of taxation in the United States.

Where do Trump's tariffs stand legally? Are foreign students banned from American universities? And are we really going to have to prove that mind control doesn't work again in New York City?

Dominic Dino works through these questions and more on Econception.

What's going on with the tariff deals? How free trade really is the United States? And what have the Popes taught about socialism?

Dave Hebert joins Econception to discuss these questions and more with Dominic Pino.

Dave Hebert, Ph.D, is a senior research fellow at AIER. Dr. Hebert's research has been published in academic journals such as Public Choice, Constitutional Political Economy, and The Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice and popular outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Investor's Business Daily, RealClearPolicy, RealClearMarkets, The Hill, and The Daily Caller.