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Join us today for a fun conversation about all things government, UK and US, with Lord Daniel Hannan of Kingsclere! 

Lord Hannan is a member of the House of Lords. Today, we talk about how the U.K.’s legislative is structured, what is up with executive power, the importance of the West and cohesion on the freedom front, and the idiocy of tariffs. 

Want to explore more?

• Yuval Levin on Burke, Paine, and the Great Debate, an EconTalk podcast.
• Phillip Klein on Fight Club Conservatives versus Disney, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Robert Higgs, Government Growth, in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
• Troy Senik on Grover Cleveland, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Is There a Role for Monarchy in a Free Society? A Liberty Matters forum at the Online Library of Liberty.

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Bob Ewing is the founder of the Ewing School and hosts a Substack called Talking Big Ideas (go check it out). He has also gifted me most of the great books that I’ve read. 

Today, we talk about how he got started and how many of the great lessons in life are learned. We talk about counter-intuitive ideas, how to find the answers to them, and how to effectively communicate them. He talks to us about kettle bells and quotes (almost) every great author under the sun. 

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We talk a lot about civil society and the importance of local, communal networks which hold us up when we’re down and inspire us to be good, striving members of society. But what does that actually look like? How do civil institutions get built, and what does it take? 

Today, I’m excited to welcome Rachel Ferguson to the podcast. She is the director of the Free Enterprise Center at Concordia University in Chicago and an affiliate scholar at the Acton Institute. She is the president of the board at Love the Lou, a neighborhood stabilization project which we are talking about today. 

Join us for an honest and inspiring conversation about why civil society matters, how it is built, what threatens it, and what the implications of civil society (or the lack thereof) are on the ground. How do institutions we speak of conceptually actually change people’s lives, in real and concrete ways? Tune in to find out. 

Want to explore more?

• Megan McArdle on Failure, Success, and the Up Side of Down, an EconTalk podcast.
• Arnold Kling, The Role of "We" versus the Role of "I," at Econlib.
• Anna Claire Flowers on F.A. Hayek and Social Structure, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Aviral Chawya. Social Cohesion and Economic Prosperity, at AdamSmithWorks.
• Anthony Gill on Religion, an EconTalk podcast.

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Jo Jensen is the founder of MovieGoer and she’s currently the SVP of Digital and Entertainment Strategy at Touchdown Strategies, a PR firm. and is an Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellow. Since all fellows have ventures over there, she’s currently writing a book called “America Has a Girlfriend Problem.”

Today, we talk about the anxiety of my generation and how to unplug, attempting to grow comfortable with discomfort. We talk about how things have changed and how we can become more active, willing to take leaps that will either succeed or teach us fundamentally important lessons. 

We also talk about her work with growing audiences and relationships. The first step is always caring about others and seeing their potential. Then we move on to talk about America’s Girlfriend Problem, addressing the issues which disproportionately affect single women in America today. 

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What is Universal Basic Income (UBI) and why is it so popular among economists and freedom lovers relative to other types of poverty policy solutions? What does it even mean to “solve a problem” or to “learn” in the social sciences?
 
Join us today to explore the answers to these two questions and many more. Today, I am excited to welcome on Peter Van Doren to talk about the history of poverty policy and policy debates and the reality about universal basic income. We talk about some pretty conclusive economic studies which highlight the effect of UBI type policies and what to make of them!
 
 Peter Van Doren is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the editor of Regulation, a quarterly magazine about applied microeconomics and economic policy issues.

Want to explore more?

• Michael Munger on the Basic Income Guarantee, an EconTalk podcast.
• Thomas Koenig, Adam Smith, Francis Fukuyama, and the Indignity of the UBI, at Speaking of Smith.
• Bruce Meyer on Poverty, an EconTalk podcast.
• Scott Winship on Poverty and Welfare, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Clark Nardinelli, Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living, in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
• Jeremy Horpedahl on the Real Cost of Thriving Index, a Great Antidote Podcast.

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Welcome back. Continuing our ongoing exploration of what it means to be an individual living in a liberal society, today I am happy to host Charlotte Thomas to talk to us about what it means to learn and the importance of the liberal arts. 

Join us to find out what it truly means to be “educated” and how to do it. A mix of personal, inspirational, and relatable, Professor Thomas brings her knowledge of teaching in the classroom into our conversation. Of course, rather than simply lecturing, teaching and learning in the liberal arts context means discussing, connecting, and questioning. 

Charlotte Thomas is a professor of philosophy and Great Books at Mercer University. She also runs the Association for Core Texts and Courses. She is also the author of “The Female Drama: The Philosophical Feminine in the Soul of Plato’s Republic.” 

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The most common statistic cited regarding marriage and relationships in the United States is that the 50% of all marriages end in divorce. Another one that is gaining traction is that more Americans than ever before will end up unmarried and alone. 

Nobody likes these statistics. 

How did we get from the 60s, hairdos and stay at home moms, to a 50% divorce rate and a high probability of dying alone? Should we care? How do we balance the benefits of modernity – women in the workplace, higher incomes, more interesting jobs – with the benefits of structured families, love, and children? 

 Today, UVA Professor Brad Wilcox is here to explain to us how we can have both: better economic status and better family life. After all, the highest indicator of long-term happiness, meaning, and satisfaction is close relationships. He is the director of The National Marriage Project and the author of Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization. 

Want to explore more?

• Emily Oster on The Family Firm, an EconTalk podcast.
• Jessica Todd Parker on Beauty, Family, and Photography, an EconTalk podcast.
• Amy Willis, Could Too Much Division of Labor Be Bad? at Speaking of Smith.
• Erik Rostad, Friedrich Engels' The Origin of the Family, at Speaking of Smith.
• Patrick Fitzsimmons, Adam on Polygamy and Kin Networks, at AdamSmithWorks.

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Thomas Jefferson was a complicated figure. Essential to the start of our country and the university I attend, he is impossible to ignore. Yet, he held slaves, and at the same time said “all men are created equal.” What’s up with that?!

Yet, we need to be able to talk about him. We also need to be able to acknowledge the contributions he has made to the world, while also acknowledging the flaws in his character and behavior. His legacy is complicated, and he was a complicated person. We all are. So how do we reconcile these parts of him? Join us in our attempt to understand this. 

Today, we talk about Thomas Jefferson and his complicated relationship with slavery. Cara Rogers Stevens, professor of history at Ashland University and codirector of the Ashbrook Scholars Program, joins us to talk about this. She is also the author of Thomas Jefferson and The First Against Slavery, which informs much of our conversation.

Want to explore more:

• Read the Complete Works of Thomas Jefferson at the Online Library of Liberty.
• Hans Eicholz, 1776 and All That: Thomas Jefferson on Adam Smith, at AdamSmithWorks.
• Darren Staloff on the American Founding, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Understanding Jefferson: Slavery, Race, and the Declaration of Independence, a Liberty Matters forum at the Online Library of Liberty.
• Jeffrey Rogers Hummel, U.S. Slavery and Economic Thought, in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

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Trade is all the rage these days. Or, at least, raging about trade is. Today, we unpack what trade and free trade are, and how to talk about it. We also address the abundance of lawyers in trade policy. 

Douglas Irwin is a professor of economics at Dartmouth College and the author of several books including Clashing Over Commerce and Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade.


Want to explore more?

• Douglas Irwin, International Trade Agreements, in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics
• Samuel Gregg on National Security and Industrial Policy, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Why Industrial Policy is (Almost) Always a Bad Idea (with Scott Sumner), an EconTalk podcast.
• Colin Grabow on the Jones Act 2: Treason and Cruises, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Jon Murphy, Does National Security Justify Tariffs? at Econlib

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 Today, I am excited to host Anna Claire Flowers to discuss F. A. Hayek and the mesocosmos. The mesocosmos is a fancy way to describe all the social groupings on the spectrum between the extremes of individualism and society. Think families, neighborhoods, farmers markets, firms, and universities. 

We talk about the importance of characterizing this missing middle piece of social organization and how it can resolve issues than a single individual or government can. She characterizes some of the important aspects of these associations for us. We talk about the family's role in particular, and what benefits it brings to individuals and society. 

Anna Claire Flowers is pursuing a PhD in Economics from George Mason University. She is a PhD Fellow with the Mercatus Center and a Graduate Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics for 2024-2025.


Want to explore more?

• Bruce Caldwell on Hayek: A Life, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Amy Willis, Could Too Much Division of Labor be Bad? at Speaking of Smith.
• Dan Klein on Hayek and the Band Man, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Viviana Zelizer on Money and Intimacy, an EconTalk podcast. 
• Profile in Liberty, Friedrich A. Hayek, at Econlib.

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