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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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Welcome back! Happy New Year! Glad to be back! Come one, come all!

Eric Leeper is the Paul Goodloe McIntire Professor in Economics at the University of Virginia. He also is a visiting scholar at the Mercatus Center at GMU. Today, we talk about inflation. He explains to us how inflation theory has evolved and how we forgot about the relationship between the fiscal and monetary sides of the economy.

Want to explore more?

• John Cochrane on Monetary versus Fiscal Policy, A Great Antidote podcast.
• Leonidas Zelmanovitz, The Boundaries of Fiscal and Monetary Policy, at Econlib.
• Allen Meltzer on Inflation, an EconTalk podcast.
• Thomas Hoening on Inflation and the Federal Reserve, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Maryann Keating, Adam Smith and the Public Debt, at AdamSmithWorks.

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Not often do we find people who make the case for how race, liberty, and equality belong together. Even less often do we find them making arguments in the height of racially and economically troubled times. And EVEN LESS do we find audio clips of them doing so. 

These people are inspiring. They stand up against the currents of the time to speak their minds, for the benefit of everyone. In doing so, they garner respect and build coalitions across ideological lines, because they have to. We can learn from them and aspire to be like them today.

In a really unique episode, I am excited to welcome David Beito to the podcast to talk about Rose Wilder Lane’s column, "Rose Lane Says," and how she brought together these three concepts of race, liberty, and equality to make an appealing case for freedom. He shares with us a clip of Lane herself, speaking on these issues. 


Want to explore more?

• Timothy Sandefur on Freedom's Furies, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Nico Perrino on Individual Rights and Free Expression, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Rachel Ferguson on Black Liberation Through the Marketplace, a Great Antidote podcast. 
• Alice Temnick, Prudence on the Prairie, at Speaking of Smith
• Mustafa Akyol, Liberty Was Islam's First Call, at the Online Library of Liberty

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Adam Smith was a man who read the Stoics. He liked them, too, talking them up in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, particularly in the section on grief. 

Then he lost two of his closest relations (old timey, right?), David Hume and his mother. These world-shaking events caused him to reevaluate what he said about grief in TMS and change our interpretation of his commentary on grief.

So what did he say about grief before, and how did the actual experience of grief change his mind? How does grief work, and how do we get through hard times? How do art and philosophy play different roles in the human experience?

Today, I’m excited to welcome Liberty Fund’s Sarah Skwire back to the podcast. She is a Senior Program Officer there, and a resident scholar on people-who-thought-things-and-wrote-things. I truly enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too! 

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This year’s Nobel Prize winners in economics are Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, who wrote on the importance of inclusive institutions to economic growth. But what on earth are ‘inclusive institutions’ and how do they differ from exclusive ones?

Inclusive institutions are norms, either written or unwritten, about things like property rights, democracy, and the rule of law. But what other institutions are important to economic growth, if there are others?

Some of this year’s winners endorse a strong antitrust regime. How do you reconcile the importance of property rights to growth with a desire to limit and take down companies built upon those rights?

At the time this episode was recorded, everyone in economics was talking about the Nobel Prize, both this year’s winners and their research. But what other economists (and their work) should we be looking to? 

Today, I am excited to welcome David Henderson back to the podcast. Henderson is the Wall Street Journal’s go-to writer when it comes to the Nobel in economics and an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His substack is titled I Blog to Differ, so go check it out! He answers questions just like these in our interview, so tune in to hear the answers!!

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Picture a policy conversation, perhaps in Washington, about national security. Who’s sitting around the table? It might be the President, national security advisors, military personnel, or generals, but not economists. And yet, national security is often used as a reason to intervene into the economy. 

At the mention of national security, it seems economists often shut their mouths and run away (or hide under a rock, or something). But why? How should economists think about and engage with concerns about national security? 

Today, the wonderful Sam Gregg joins us to talk to us about industrial policy and national security. He is the author of The Next American Economy and he is the Frederick Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research.

He explains how national security is often used as a justification for industrial policy, and how industrial policy actually harms both national security and economic strength. Join us to hear about the economic policy that improves national security!!

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