Faith and Economics

What does it mean to live a good life?  Is an ethical life always a desirable life, and vice versa?  And what exactly is a 'virtue', anyway?  Aristotle, student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great, had important and interesting answers to these questions. Join the Gwartney Institute for a discussion of Aristotle's conception of Ethics, and why we still in intellectual debt to t...

The World Cup has drawn tourists from all over the world to the American heartland, and they’ve been posting their impressions to social media.  Interestingly, it looks like many of them are _in love_ with America and American culture - the very culture we Americans are told to denigrate and apologize for! What’s going on?  Join the Gwartney team to discuss!

Back by popular demand! We are revisiting one of our most thought-provoking conversations on the sunk cost fallacy and why our past investments can make it so hard to let go. The sunk cost fallacy is when one has already invested into a project, begins to examine the overall cost estimate involved and with the project, and thus commits to the project even harder because they are personally investe...

“Possession is 9/10ths of the law”, or so the saying goes.  But in our contemporary lives and world, we often don’t have physical control or possession of the things that we think we own.  And we do possess a lot of things that we don’t own, on some version of a subscription model.  What’s going on here?  Is this a good development?  What does this mean for advocates of a private property based ec...

Peter leads a discussion about a labyrinthine lawsuit and property dispute, pointing out along the way the light that this case sheds on property rights and how they are interpreted and enforced.  This case has it all: death, theft, AI, skullduggery, corporate restructuring, and at the heart of it all (of course!), LEGOs. Join us for a fascinating and elucidating discussion!

Is the American middle-class is shrinking like the media tells us it is?  Russ and Peter examine various data points and perspectives. Listen in and think about how middle class definitions have evolved over time, considering factors like income, wealth, and lifestyle expectations. While statistical data shows the middle class has shrunk in relative terms, they debated whether this reflects genuin...

Peter and Russ explore gerrymandering and uncover that it may not be as bad as other options for representation.  They explain the implications of the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding racial considerations in redistricting, the challenges of eliminating gerrymandering while maintaining geographic representation, and the economic concept of rent-seeking in the redistricting process.  Listen...

If what we all really want is to be happy, why do we line up and pay money to watch something that we know ahead of time is going to make us sad?  Join Peter and Justin as they consider the paradox of tragedy, and try to make sense of the hold that tragic drama has maintained on humanity going all the way back to the Greeks.  Don’t wanna listen to the episode?  Why don’t you cry about it.

Description: In a popular thought experiment, everyone must privately choose between pressing a red or blue button.  If the majority of people press the blue button, everyone lives. If the majority of people press the red button, all those who pressed the blue button die. Join Peter and Justin as they puzzle through why people disagree so vehemently about which button to press. Choose wisely!

Some conversations don’t expire. We are re-releasing this episode because its message is just as relevant today as when we first shared it. Take a listen as the Gwartney team discusses rational ignorance and how society engages in it. Further, we investigate public choice and the dangers of growing bureaucracies. We hope you enjoy this episode and see how it fits into your life! Timeline: Public F...

We live in an age of incredible ease and efficiency:  order products on Amazon and they appear on your doorstep that afternoon.  While this may seem like a no-brainer gain for the American consumer, are there trade-offs that we are ignoring?  Might there be some benefit to actually engaging with your fellow humans on face-to-fave commerce? Join in as the Gwartney team makes the case for getting ou...

When do relationships matter with transactions? How did the world become rich? Dr. Stephanie Haeffele the describes the work of scholars like Eleanor Ostrom and Viviana Zelitzer, emphasizing how relationships and social interactions affect economic behavior and policy outcomes. Dr. Koyama explained elements of his book "How the World Became Rich," which examines various theories on econo...

Join Peter and Russ with special guest, Dr. Andy Hazucha, professor of English at Ottawa University in a conversation about the evolution of the Baseball in Literature and Culture.  Why does baseball generate more literary works than other sports?  Listen in as Andy explains the contemplative nature and pastoral setting of baseball that creates a unique atmosphere for reflection and storytelling. 

Special guest Chad McCullough shares his 20-years of experience helping people improve their credit scores, particularly through debt settlement negotiations where he's settled over $850,000 in collections. Chad is a credit repair expert and owner of Armor Credit Solutions in Louisville. How can you boost your credit score? How can clean up a messy credit report? Listen in to learn the inside...

People are, in the Anglo-American legal tradition, supposed to be equal before the law.  This isn’t always the case.  ‘Anarchotyranny’ denotes an arrangement where some groups are allowed to operate with near legal impunity, while other groups incur severe penalties for minor infractions.  The Gwartney team discusses recent developments that seem to indicate that we’re headed for an anarchotyranni...

The Gwartney Team discusses the relationship between parenting and politics, focusing on an analogy deployed by Slavoj Žižek.  Here’s the question:  given that parents want to control at least some of their child’s actions, is it better to require them to act in accordance with the parents demands, regardless of what the child wants, or is it better to cajole the child into wanting to do what the...

A new class of drugs, GLP-1 inhibitors (Ozempic being the most recognizable) has seemingly taken the world by storm.  If the hype is to be believed, there seems to be enormous upsides and zero downsides to these new wonders of chemistry.  Is that really the case, or might there be reason for caution?  Join the Gwartney Institute for an insightful discussion on the promise and perils of these power...

Justin argues that one way to think about The Bible is to think about the role that DNA plays in the development of the human organism.  Justin's claim is that this analogy sheds light on the continued relevance of The Bible as a roadmap for western culture and a reason to think that Christianity is a foundation which the west cannot abandon without destruction. Peter and Russ probe and press...

It is commonly asserted that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' and that 'there's no accounting for taste'. Views like this received their philosophical foundation from David Hume, who famously argued that it was impossible to validly derive an 'ought' claim from an 'is' claim. If Hume is right, then aesthetic and ethical judgments seem to be mere matters of...

Peter leads a discussion about the problems with the SALT federal income tax deduction, which he doesn’t like. Yes, you heard that right: Peter is going to make the case that the SALT deduction, which lowers some individuals’ federal tax burden, is immoral. Has Peter lost his mind? Is he in cahoots with the IRS?Tune in to find out!

Writing, as an activity, is an extremely productive human activity.  AI tools that enhance output, encourage effort, or eliminate the labor of the writing process are changing the educational landscape.  We should be clear about what we gain from writing before off-loading this activity to an external agency or tool.  So, what is writing all about, and why is developing the ability to write well s...

Podcasts, as a medium, are relatively new but extremely popular. What accounts for their appearance and their popularity? Why doesn't Peter like them, and why does Justin think they're potentially dangerous? Along the way we'll discuss what podcasts we regularly listen to, and what we think makes a podcast compelling. Join the Gwartney Team for a podcast about podcasts. We're going...

What’s in store for 2026?  Join the Gwartney Team to discuss their predictions for the coming year in culture, politics, and even sports.  Remember, the Gwartney Team has a predictive success rate of 100% going back 38 years, so you can put your full confidence in our prognostications.*  Join in to learn what’s happening… before it happens!*I have been informed that no, they don’t, and also no, yo...

The clash between federal immigration enforcement and progressive protesters has taken center stage of the national conversation following the death of Renee Good. What exactly is going on in Minnesota? How did we get here? Are there lessons to learn from this?

The podcast returns to the topic of Venezuela.  In early December we (boldly!) predicted regime change in Venezuela, and a month later Maduro is in U.S. custody.  An enormous amount of questions linger:  How did Venezuela wind up with a socialist strongman like Maduro?  Should the US remove global leaders who oppress their own citizens regardless of US interests?  Was it in the best interests of t...