On this episode, Nathan Goodman chats with economist Ben Powell about common myths surrounding mass immigration, including fears of job loss, wage suppression, and fiscal burdens. Drawing from his book, Wretched Refuse?: The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions , Powell presents cross-country evidence showing that immigration does not undermine culture, institutions, or productivity. Instead, it often correlates with improvements in economic freedom and institutional quality. He als...
Jun 25, 2025•55 min•Ep. 212
On this episode, Stefanie Haeffele chats with Abigail Hall on her latest book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite , which provides a satirical instruction manual for warfare. They discuss the various methods and approaches to bringing academic work to a broader audience, highlight the need for humility in providing commentary, emphasize the importance of Abigail’s research in the increasingly militarized modern world and the role of satire in critiquing and ...
Jun 11, 2025•51 min•Ep. 211
On this episode, Erwin Dekker chats with Director Tomasz Agencki on the making of " Notes on the Margin" (2024), a full length documentary on the life and legacy of Carl Menger, founder of Austrian economics. Despite limited archival material and conflicting accounts, Agencki crafts a visually rich story highlighting Menger’s intellectual journey and reformist spirit. Tomasz Agencki is a freedom-focused movie maker who travels around the world to cooperate with like-minded creators. Agencki has ...
May 28, 2025•44 min•Ep. 210
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke reflects on the lessons he’s learned throughout his academic career, focusing on what it takes to succeed after graduate school. Boettke encourages graduates to: value the scientific pursuit of truth and scholarship; cultivate a sense of awe, wonderment, surprise, and appreciation; and to be curious. He cautions against prioritizing cleverness over clarity and emphasizes the need to continually adapt and adjust. Persistence and hard wor...
May 14, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 209
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Margaret Levi delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference, exploring her latest research on political equality and arguing that it has been poorly conceptualized and measured in comparison to economic equality. She frames political equality around three dimensions: participation, representation, and responsiveness, emphasizing that it is relational and rooted in social interactions and is not merely a matter of resource di...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 208
On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Karol Boudreaux on female land and resource rights in Sub-Saharan Africa and their impact on economic development. Karol discusses how even when property rights are granted, formal documentation and cultural backgrounds pose challenges to control over land use, and she shares the success story of Rwanda, how the state undertook a massive land documentation effort to improve formal property rights. Karol Boudreaux has a JD in International Law from the U...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 207
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nava Ashraf delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference, exploring the role of trust and institutions and focusing on female entrepreneurship in developing countries, particularly Zambia. Ashraf argues that trust, institutional fairness, and negotiation skills matter for gender equity and economic development. Nava Ashraf is a Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she is also...
Apr 02, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 206
On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Catherine Pakaluk on her latest book, Hannah's Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth (2024). Pakaluk describes the economic consequences of dropping fertility rates, explores the reasons for why women choose to have children, explains how we can increase fertility rates, and more. Catherine Pakaluk is the Director of Political Economy and an Associate Professor at The Catholic University of America. Her primary areas of research include e...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 205
On this special crossover episode, Ideas of India podcast host, Shruti Rajagopalan, interviews Christopher J. Coyne on the economics of conflict and peace, the history of the U.S. security state, the US intervention in Afghanistan, domestic consequences of militarism abroad, and much more! For the full length transcript and for more episodes like this, check out the Ideas of India podcast page . Shruti Rajagopalan is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Fellow at the Classical L...
Mar 05, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 204
On this episode, Jordan Lofthouse chats with Zane Austin Willard about interdisciplinary scholarship and using political economy to study LGBTQ plus issues. Zane explains his academic background in economics and communication studies and discusses power dynamics, queer culture and Rupaul’s Drag Race, the paradox of visibility, and the strengths and weaknesses of polycentric governance explored through the #MeToo movement. Zane Austin Willard is a doctoral student in the Department of Communicati...
Feb 19, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 203
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Kwame Anthony Appiah delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference, exploring the historical and philosophical complexities of cultural property. Using examples from classical literature, African history, and global museum debates, he critiques modern repatriation efforts for oversimplifying ownership claims. Appiah argues that the ownership and heritage of cultural artifacts are historically complex, traceable through ances...
Feb 05, 2025•53 min•Ep. 202
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Deirdre McCloskey delivers a keynote lecture at the 2022 Markets & Society conference. She argues that the "great enrichment"—a 30-fold rise in global income per capita since 1776—was driven by liberal economic ideas that champion individual freedom and equality of permission. McCloskey also critiques government intervention, emphasizing the transformative power of removing barriers to foster innovation, prosperity, and human flourishing, and mor...
Jan 22, 2025•41 min•Ep. 201
Mikayla Novak chats with Giandomenica Becchio on her latest book, The Doctrine of the Separate Spheres in Political Economy and Economics: Gender Equality and Classical Liberalism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Together they discuss Becchio’s background and inspiration, the separated roles of men and women in the public and private spheres, and key thinkers in classical liberalism that studied feminist economics. Giandomenica Becchio is Professor of History of Economic Thought, Methodology of Econo...
Jan 08, 2025•58 min•Ep. 200
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke gives the opening keynote lecture at the 2022 Markets & Society conference. In this lecture, Boettke speaks on the importance of “relations before transactions”, emphasizes the impact of social interactions on economic activity and the role of trust, norms, and institutions, and highlights the insights of Adam Smith, F.A. Hayek, and Elinor Ostrom. Boettke explores the intersections between markets and society, opening the conference...
Dec 26, 2024•42 min•Ep. 199
Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace , hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors. This episode focuses on state power, peaceful cooperation, and the regime uncertainty of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Ed Stringham on “Two Paths toward Anarcho-pacifism: Lessons from Christianity and Modern Economics”, and Don Boudrea...
Dec 11, 2024•50 min•Ep. 198
Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace , hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors. This episode focuses on the military and health industrial complexes of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Nathan Goodman on “The Military-Industrial Complex and the Militarization of Society”, Raymond March on “What About the Healthcare S...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 197
This is the last episode of a three-part miniseries on entangled political economy (EPE), hosted by Mikayla Novak. Entangled political economy is a sub-discipline of political economy that explicitly views individuals and the private and public sectors as being intertwined in overlapping exchange relationships along competitive and collaborative dimensions. On this episode, Mikayla Novak is joined by Marta Podemska-Mikluch who discusses her life in Poland under socialism, her time working alongs...
Nov 13, 2024•56 min•Ep. 196
Welcome back to the series, Perspectives on Peace , hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors. This episode focuses on the Ratchet Effect of Robert Higgs, featuring authors Abigail Hall on “Ideology, Crisis, and the Ratchet Effect: Retrospect and Prospects”, Jayme Lemke on “The Origins and Persistence of Discriminatory Institution...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 195
Welcome to the series, Perspectives on Peace , hosted by Chris Coyne. The first four episodes of this series will focus on The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus, 2024) and will feature a collection of short interviews with many of the chapter authors. On this episode, Chris Coyne and Don Boudreaux discuss the life and legacy of Robert Higgs as featured in the newly published edited volume, The Legacy of Robert Higgs (Mercatus Center, 2024). Coyne and Boudreaux emphasize Higgs’ work as an economis...
Oct 16, 2024•59 min•Ep. 194
Welcome to the series, Women and Policy , where Jessica Carges interviews women who work on policy research related to women. On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Courtney Joslin on contraceptive accessibility and women's healthcare. Courtney explains how geography, high costs, and shortages of healthcare workers increase the difficulty of accessing contraceptives, how new state-based policies may provide innovative solutions, and how increased access leads to higher education, increased e...
Oct 02, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 193
Welcome to the series, Women and Policy , where Jessica Carges interviews women who work on policy research related to women. On this episode, Jessica Carges chats with Diana Thomas on why childcare is so expensive and what can we do to improve it. They discuss key points on how changes of regulation in the childcare industry impact women in the labor force. Diana Thomas is an Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Institute for Economic Inquiry at the Heider College of Business at...
Sep 18, 2024•47 min•Ep. 192
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nathan Goodman chats with Anthony Gregory on his latest book, New Deal Law and Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State . Most Americans remember the New Deal as the crucible of modern liberalism. But while it is most closely associated with Roosevelt’s efforts to end the Depression and provide social security for the elderly, we have failed to acknowledge one of its most enduring legacies: its war on crime. The book reassesses the ...
Sep 04, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 191
Welcome back to the Environmental Economics series, hosted by Jordan Lofthouse. On this episode, Jordan converses with Mikayla Novak and Nathan Goodman on their paper, " Militarized Climate Planning: What is Left? ", co-authored by Lofthouse, Novak and Goodman. Their paper is influenced by Don Lavoie's critiques of central planning laid out in his book, National Economic Planning: What is Left? , applied to today's issue of militarized climate planning or "war footing." Instead of using climate ...
Aug 21, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 190
Welcome back to the Environmental Economics series, hosted by Jordan Lofthouse. On this episode, Jordan interviews Justus Enninga on the intersection of economics, environmentalism and urbanism. In this conversation, Justus speaks on his PPE beginnings spawned from his time spent in Southeast India as well as on Tocqueville, city planning, climate migration, agglomeration effects in cities, immigrant influxes, and more. Justus Enninga is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Economy at ...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 189
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Bobbi Herzberg interviews Matt Mitchell on Certificate of Need (CON) laws, what change in healthcare looks like, and socialized healthcare. Matthew Mitchell is a Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow in the Centre for Economic Freedom at the Fraser Institute. Read Matt's book, co-authored with Peter Boettke, A pplied Mainline Economics: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Public Policy and che...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 188
On this episode of the podcast, Peter Boettke interviews Chris Coyne on his latest book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite , co-authored with Abigail R. Hall . How to Run Wars provides a satirical take on the logistics and ethical considerations involved in conducting wars, drawing inspiration from Bruce Winton Knight's How to Run a War . Chris discusses his motivations for writing the book, its contents, and his research agenda. To learn more about Chris’s...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 187
This is the second episode of a three-part miniseries on entangled political economy (EPE), hosted by Mikayla Novak. Entangled political economy is a sub-discipline of political economy that explicitly views individuals and the private and public sectors as being intertwined in overlapping exchange relationships along competitive and collaborative dimensions. On this episode, Mikayla Novak is joined by David Hebert who details his time working with Richard Wagner, discusses his work on public fi...
Jun 26, 2024•55 min•Ep. 186
On this episode, we’ll hear a book panel discussion on Peter Boettke’s book, The Struggle for a Better World (Mercatus Center at George Mason University, 2021). In his comments, Boettke provides an overview of his book, emphasizes the role that institutions play in human societies, and discusses his focus on improving the human condition by lifting up those who are least prosperous in our world. The panel is moderated by Stefanie Haeffele , and they are joined on the panel by: Emily Chamlee-Wrig...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 185
This is the first episode of a three-part miniseries on entangled political economy (EPE), hosted by Mikayla Novak. Entangled political economy is a sub-discipline of political economy that explicitly views individuals and the private and public sectors as being intertwined in overlapping exchange relationships along competitive and collaborative dimensions. On this episode, Mikayla Novak interviews Richard Wagner on entangled political economy. Wagner discusses the framework’s origins, influenc...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 184
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, we continue the Living Better Together miniseries, featuring select authors of Living Better Together: Social Relations and Economic Governance in the Work of Ostrom and Zelizer (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) and hosted by its coeditor, Stefanie Haeffele. Joining us today are Carolina Dalla Chiesa and Crystal Dozier. Together, they mesh Ostrom and Zelizer’s approaches and highlight the importance of using interdisciplinary methods to better understand ec...
May 15, 2024•38 min•Ep. 183
