Bob argues that many Austro-libertarians (himself included, initially) have been too quick to dismiss the Trump administration's foreign and economic policy as mere incompetence or corruption, without grasping the strategic logic behind it. His thesis: the U.S. national security establishment sees China's rise as an existential threat and believes the window to act is closing fast, making the current flurry of aggressive moves less like random chaos and more like a desperate Hail Mary pass. Rela...
May 15, 2026•Ep. 549
Bob responds to a new working paper from the Geo-chartalism project, which claims to offer a complete theory of the price level by combining insights from Menger, Cantillon, and Warren Mosler. Bob argues that the paper overlooks a crucial prior contribution: Mises' regression theorem, developed in The Theory of Money and Credit , which already solved the circularity problem in monetary theory that the paper claims required Mosler to resolve. Along the way, Bob also explains chartalism, Georgism,...
May 04, 2026•Ep. 548
Bob sits down with researcher Robert Aro to review his recent Mises.org article on why the widely anticipated post-QT crash never materialized. They trace the answer back to the Fed's reverse repo facility, which quietly injected trillions back into the financial system even as the official balance sheet was shrinking, and what the depletion of that buffer might mean for what comes next. Related: Robert's Power & Market Post, "Why the Crash Was Delayed": Mises.org/HAP547a Bob’s Article, “The...
Apr 27, 2026•Ep. 547
Bob sits down with macro researcher Luke Gromen of Forest for the Trees to discuss the cascading supply chain consequences of a closed Strait of Hormuz. They also touch on why gold is already supplanting the dollar as the world's premier reserve asset, and what the surge in U.S. gold exports over the past five months tells us about where the global monetary order is heading. The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree...
Apr 21, 2026•Ep. 546
After his recent Zero Hedge debate with MMT co-founder Randall Wray, Bob takes a deep dive into the sectoral balance approach. He explains why the MMT argument is technically a tautology, how it's deeply misleading, and why the private sector doesn't need government deficits to save, invest, and accumulate real wealth. Related: Is Paying Down Government Debt Bad for the Economy?: Mises.org/HAP545a Bob's Article, "Does History Show Government Debt Paydown Causes a Crash?": Mises.org/HAP545b The M...
Apr 10, 2026•Ep. 545
This week, Bob explains Cantillon effects: the insight that new money doesn't raise all prices equally or simultaneously, but flows through the economy in a sequence that benefits early recipients at the expense of everyone else. Then, he shows why this phenomenon is the foundation on which the entire Austrian theory of the business cycle is built. Related: Richard Cantillon, An Essay on Economic Theory: Mises.org/HAP544a The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Ce...
Apr 02, 2026•Ep. 544
Bob untangles two arguments that even Austrian economists sometimes conflate: Mises' calculation problem and Hayek's knowledge problem. Then, he explains why the distinction matters, especially in light of recent claims that AI and modern computing could finally make central planning viable. Related: Bob's Article, "Socialism: The Calculation Problem Is Not the Knowledge Problem": Mises.org/HAP543a The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free cop...
Mar 27, 2026•Ep. 543
In memory of Roger Garrison, Bob walks through Garrison's famous capital-based macroeconomics diagrams, showing how they translate the Mises-Hayek theory of the boom-bust cycle into the language of modern macroeconomics. Related: Roger Garrison, The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle: Mises.org/HAP542a Roger Garrison, Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition: Mises.org/HAP542b The Diagrams Referenced in the Podcast: Mises.org/HAP542c Dr. Garrison's PowerPoints: Mises.org/HAP542d T...
Mar 21, 2026•Ep. 542
In commemoration of Murray Rothbard’s 100th birthday, Bob shares five “greatest hits” from Rothbard’s economics, covering deficits vs. inflation, monopoly theory, excess capacity, the time structure of production, and his reconstruction of utility and welfare economics. Related: Rothbard, Making Economic Sense: Mises.org/HAP541a Rothbard, "Toward a Reconstruction of Utility and Welfare Economics": Mises.org/HAP541b Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market: Mises.org/HAP541c Bob's ...
Mar 13, 2026•Ep. 541
Bob uses Trump’s call to ban congressional insider trading as a springboard to explain why, from an Austro-libertarian perspective, insider trading and speculation could help markets work, while still justifying special rules for government employees. Related: Bob's Article "Is Insider Trading Really a Crime?": Mises.org/HAP540a The Social Function of Stock Speculators: Mises.org/HAP540b The Social Function of Futures Markets: Mises.org/HAP540c The Social Function of Call and Put Options: Mises....
Mar 03, 2026•Ep. 540
This week, Bob walks through Javier Milei’s 2026 address to the World Economic Forum, explaining the Austrian and neoclassical ideas behind Milei’s defense of capitalism—from Rothbard and Kirzner to Pareto efficiency and the welfare theorems. Related: Bob's Breakdown of The Intra-Austrian Debate over Milei: Mises.org/HAP539a The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree...
Feb 24, 2026•Ep. 539
Bob lays out California’s proposed 5% wealth tax on billionaires, using it to explain why taxes on wealth are especially destructive, how different tax structures change incentives, and what recent migration data says about people voting with their feet. Related: Data on 2020–2024 State-to-State Migration: Mises.org/HAP538a "Where Americans Choose to Move and Where They Leave": Mises.org/HAP538b Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, P...
Feb 17, 2026•Ep. 538
Bob talks with Dr. Keith Smith of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma about how posting cash prices, walking away from government money, and working with self-funded employers created an alternative to the cartel of big hospitals and insurers. Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/OKCHA The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get...
Feb 11, 2026•Ep. 537
Bob applies Mises’ taxonomy of money and the regression theorem to Bitcoin, asking whether it should be classified as commodity or fiat money and whether Austrian theory really rules out Bitcoin ever becoming money. Related: Mises's The Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP536a Bob's Study Guide to The Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP536b Bob's Primer on Bitcoin: Mises.org/HAP536c Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per...
Feb 05, 2026•Ep. 536
Bob responds to James Rickards’ recent tweet on record U.S. gold exports driving an improved trade balance, walking through the official data on non-monetary gold, Trump-era tariff uncertainty, and the broader question of what chronic trade deficits really mean in a post-gold-standard world. Related: The Charts Used in this Episode: Mises.org/HAP535a Bob's Recent Talk on Trade Deficits: Mises.org/HAP535b Bob's Econlib Article on Oil Prices: Mises.org/HAP535c Politicians don’t build prosperity. E...
Jan 24, 2026•Ep. 535
Bob revisits Böhm-Bawerk’s critique of the exploitation theory of interest to answer modern claims that billionaires like Elon Musk must have “stolen” their wealth from workers who supposedly create 100 percent of a firm’s value. Related: Böhm-Bawerk’s Critique of the Exploitation Theory of Interest: Mises.org/HAP534a Böhm-Bawerk’s Karl Marx and the Close of His System: Mises.org/HAP534b Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylun...
Jan 18, 2026•Ep. 534
Bob talks with Dr. Peter Klein about the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela and the social-media backlash against “international law,” using it as a springboard to clarify what law is, how it can exist without a world government, and why Austrians care about polycentric legal orders. The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Jan 15, 2026•Ep. 533
This week, Bob talks with macroeconomist Roger Farmer—who places himself “between Keynes and Hayek”—about how twentieth-century macroeconomics evolved. They discuss how overlapping generations and search theory change the story on unemployment and asset prices, and where Professor Farmer thinks both neoclassicals and MMT advocates go wrong. Farmer contrasts the old “rocking horse” vision of the economy with his preferred “windy boat” metaphor, where the economy can drift for long periods, and va...
Jan 02, 2026•Ep. 532
Bob uses three recent controversies–Richard Murphy’s “Christmas all year” claim, Elon Musk’s net worth, and Ron DeSantis on the Great Depression–to clear up common economic fallacies about work, wealth, and wartime spending. The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree
Dec 29, 2025•Ep. 531
Bob uses clips from his recent interview with Eric Weinstein to explain why Weinstein thinks gauge theory can fix how economists measure the cost of living, unify competing price indices, and handle changing preferences over time, and why Austrians shouldn’t dismiss him as a crank. He summarizes Eric’s claim that standard mathematical economics relies on the simplest kind of derivative, explaining how much of modern economic modeling is using the wrong math. Related: Bob's Interview with Eric We...
Dec 16, 2025•Ep. 530
This week, Bob walks through two related debates: Hoppe’s criticism of Argentina's President Milei for not immediately closing Argentina’s central bank, and the follow-up exchange between Guido Hülsmann and Philipp Bagus on Mises.org over dollarization and the peso. Along the way, he reviews Mises’s distinctions among commodity, credit, and fiat money, the concepts of money substitutes and fiduciary media, and the interesting structure of Argentina’s short-term central bank debt Guido Hülsmann a...
Dec 08, 2025•Ep. 529
Bob walks through a recent WIRED video on “the economics behind the Great Depression,” correcting its claims on lax regulation, Hoover’s alleged inaction, the role of the Fed and the gold standard, and the notion that World War II ended the slump. Bob's Article, "The Depression You’ve Never Heard Of: 1920-1921": Mises.org/HAP528a Bob's Talk, "Contrasting Views of the Great Depression": Mises.org/HAP528b The WIRED Video, "Economics Professor Answers Great Depression Questions": Mises.org/HAP528c ...
Nov 28, 2025•Ep. 527
Bob revisits capital and interest theory to show why the textbook result “interest = MPK” only holds in a one-good world, and why in actual markets the interest rate emerges from time, prices, and capital valuation—not raw productivity. Bob and Alberto Bisin Discuss the Use of Mathematics in Economics: Mises.org/HAP527a Bob's Dissertation, "Unanticipated Intertemporal Change in Theories of Interest": Mises.org/HAP527b The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Centur...
Nov 23, 2025•Ep. 527
Prompted by an online debate about whether economics belongs with the hard sciences, Bob reviews common defenses of mainstream practice and explains why they don’t settle the scientific status of the field. He outlines the Mises–Rothbard view: economics as praxeology (logic of action), closer to geometry than laboratory testing, with core insights on opportunity cost, incentives, prices, money, and policy constraints that don’t depend on forecasting the exact timing of crashes. Understanding Mon...
Nov 17, 2025•Ep. 526
Dr. Jonathan Newman joins the Human Action Podcast to discuss his recent QJAE article disputing the claim that 'sticky prices' prevent markets from clearing--i.e., when the quantity supplied equals the quantity demanded. Dr. Newman applies Mises’s “plain state of rest” to show that each voluntary exchange equates quantities supplied and demanded, so observed “stickiness” doesn’t imply non-clearing markets. "There Ain't No Such Thing as a Sticky Price": Mises.org/HAP525a The Mises Institute is gi...
Nov 12, 2025•Ep. 524
Is paying down the federal debt a recession trigger? Bob takes on the MMT claim and checks the record, citing US debt payoffs, Canada’s 1990s reforms, and ECB case studies. Conclusion: real wealth beats accounting tricks and paydowns aren’t a mechanical path to recession. Read More on Fiscal Austerity: Mises.org/HAP524a The Upside-Down World of MMT: Mises.org/HAP524b Do Balanced Budgets Cause Depressions?: Mises.org/HAP524c The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st ...
Nov 02, 2025•Ep. 524
Alex Pollock joins the Human Action Podcast to explain his recent Congressional testimony on the Fed’s growing insolvency and mandate overreach. The Fed now admits to $243 billion in operating losses and nearly $1 trillion in mark-to-market losses, leaving it with negative capital of about $197 billion. Pollock explains how the central bank transformed itself into “the biggest 1980s-style savings and loan in history” — funding short while buying long, and bleeding cash as interest rates rose. Re...
Oct 30, 2025•Ep. 523
In this episode of the Human Action Podcast, Bob unpacks Lerner’s Symmetry Theorem—the classic result that, under tight conditions, an import tariff is equivalent to an export tax. He applies the framework to recent 100% China‑tariff headlines, explaining why the dollar might strengthen in theory yet sometimes weakens in practice once retaliation and policy signaling are factored in. The Human Action Podcast on Trump's Tariff Strategy: Mises.org/HAP522a The Lerner Symmetry Theorem: Mises.org/HAP...
Oct 22, 2025•Ep. 522
This week, Bob tackles growing concerns about artificial intelligence, automation, and mass unemployment. Using the principles of marginal productivity and comparative advantage, he shows how the standard economic arguments still apply—even in the age of ChatGPT and robotics. Responding directly to viral tweets from Matt Walsh, Bob dismantles the popular belief that AI will inevitably destroy human labor markets. He explains why highly skilled labor has always coexisted with less-skilled workers...
Oct 13, 2025•Ep. 521
Jonathan Newman returns to join Bob in a critique of Eliezer Yudkowsky’s viral theory of investment bubbles. Yudkowsky states that the bad investment during bubbles should be felt before the bubble pops, not after. They argue that his perspective—while clever—fails to consider the Austrian insights on capital structure, time preference, and the business cycle. They use analogies from apple trees to magic mushrooms to show why Austrian economics provides the clearest explanation for booms, busts,...
Oct 06, 2025•Ep. 520
