Free The Economy

This week we talk about Trump’s 10% credit card interest proposal (and the dangers of populist economics in general), a new report on debanking from Cato Institute analyst (and previous Free the Economy guest) Nick Anthony, and, via previous guest Joey Politano, analysis of the blue-collar jobs that America is losing. Our guest this week is Russ Greene of the Prime Mover Institute. We talk about s...

This week we talk about communist housing policy in New York City, the best economics and history books to read in 2026, a legal setback for unions in California and New York, and the hottest gadgets from CES in Las Vegas. Our guest this week is University of Alabama historian David Beito. We’ll talk about the New Deal, World War II, court packing, civil liberties, and his recent book, FDR: A New...

This week we talk about corporate real estate investing, woke pension funds, changing fuel economy rules, and questions about a possible Trump Federal Reserve nominee. Our guest this week is Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute and China Beige Book. We’ll talk about manufacturing, Trump policy, President Xi’s plans for Taiwan, and whether we should give up the Bill of Rights to get...

This week we talk about tariff refunds, Affordable Care Act subsidies, Ryan Young’s Books of the Year for 2025, and how Santa landed on Trump’s naughty list. Our guest this week is Marlo Lewis, Jr., senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We talk about greenhouse gases, the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding,” climate models, human health, and the future of envi...

This week we talk about the decline of electric vehicles, liberation for home appliances, the failure of tariffs to deliver new jobs, and the rise of climate realism. Our guest this week is James Erwin, Director of Innovation Policy at Americans for Tax Reform. We’ll talk about consumer finance, bank regulators, Elizabeth Warren’s view of the world, and when the government is allowed to violate yo...

This week we talk about the economic impact of net-zero policies in blue states and Europe, top targets for environmental policy reform in 2026, a new report on digital debanking from Congress, and why 38% of Stanford students are claiming to be disabled. Our guest this week is Neil Bradley, executive vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We’ll talk about taxes, regulation, free enterpri...

This week we talk about our 150th episode anniversary party, the documentary Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand, the new $140,000-a-year poverty level, billionaire envy, and socialist deregulation of small businesses in New York City. Our guest this week is Kurt Couchman, senior fellow in fiscal policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of the excellent new book Fiscal Democracy in...

This week we celebrate the show’s sesquicentennial anniversary – that is, our 150th episode. We look back at the dozens of smart, funny, passionate, and insightful guests we’ve had over the past three years and let you hear from several in their own words. From finance and tech to pop culture and political theory, our guest experts provided us with the data and analysis to make sense of the modern...

This week we talk about changes in consumer credit, disappearing fast-food jobs in California, and six things the climate movement gets wrong about China. Our guest this week is popular economics Substacker and chart maker extraordinaire Joey Politano of Apricitas Economics and The Argument. We talk about tariffs, tech jobs, federalism, housing abundance, and more. Free the Economy is hosted by Ri...

This week we talk about Social Security’s cost of living, conserving rare earth minerals, and why California keeps losing tech jobs. Our guest this week is Prof. Jeremy Horpedahl, director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics, associate professor of economics at the University of Central Arkansas, and contributor at Economists Writing Every Day. We talk about economic statistics and wh...

This week we talk about administrative law judges, AI innovation saving lives, environmental regulation creating more wildfires, and more research on the fight against corporate welfare. Our interview this week is with Craig Piercy, CEO of the American Nuclear Society. We talk about innovation, abundance, start-up ventures, regulatory reform, and the future of affordable energy.  Free the Economy...

This week we talk about the unintended consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, decarbonization of economic growth, and resources for reporting government corruption at the local level. Our interview this week is with Jeremy Nighohossian, senior fellow and economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We talk about the government shutdown, insurance subsidies, the Affordable Care Act,...

This week we talk about the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, why we don’t need a government agency for jobs data, how market trade builds social capital, and a new article on the managerial tyranny of Boomer environmentalism. Our interview this week is with Stephen Perkins, Chief Operating Officer of the American Conservation Coalition. We talk a...

This week we talk about the need to build more infrastructure in the UK, an award for public finance leadership in Oklahoma, teaching students to actually read in Mississippi, and shifting the Overton Window on corporate welfare. Our interview is with Ed Hudgins, founder of the Human Achievement Alliance. We’ll talk about innovation, optimism, technological development, and the future of upwing th...

This week we cover a new study on pharmaceutical tariffs, whether to expect a new Great Depression (via Phil Magness and Marc Wheat in National Review), and how the U.S. auto industry is souring on the electric vehicle revolution. Our interview this week is with Romina Boccia, director of budget and entitlement policy at the Cato Institute, editor of Debt Dispatch on Substack, and co-author of the...

This week we cover the future of financial regulation, the end of the left vs. right distinction in politics, and how we all just dodged a bullet on alcohol and public health. Our interview this week is with Alex Trembath, deputy director of the Breakthrough Institute. We’ll talk about energy, housing, bureaucracy, special-interest politics, and the emergent coalition of the abundance movement. Fr...

This week we cover potential changes to quarterly reporting for public companies, state-level AI regulations, spiking gas prices in California, and cosmetology licenses for sale in D.C. Our interview this week is with Vance Ginn, host of the Let People Prosper podcast, economist at Americans for Tax Reform, and co-author of the new book on health care policy, Empower Patients: Two Doctor's Cu...

This week we cover the latest jobs numbers, the emergent community of abundance fans, the limits to taxing billionaires, and eliminating an illegal federal agency. Our interview this week is with Matt Mitchell, senior fellow in the Centre for Human Freedom at the Fraser Institute. We’ll talk about tariffs, prosperity, international comparisons, and the best policy for a global economy.  Free the E...

This week we cover the Trump tariffs being struck down, Biden’s competition order being vacated, and new research on housing affordability. Our interview this week is with Kevin Williamson, national correspondent at The Dispatch and host of the How the World Works podcast. We’ll have a wide-ranging discussion covering everything from restaurant food waste to tariffs, wealth disparities, economic d...

This week we cover Ray Dalio’s Big Debt Cycle, scandal in climate finance, jobs destroyed by tariffs, why AI can’t replace free markets, and the debut of the new publication " The Argument ." Our interview this week is with Peter Lipsett, Vice President of DonorsTrust and host of the Giving Ventures podcast. We’ll talk about the right side of the modern political spectrum and the diversi...

This week we cover White House intervention in corporate ownership, the nation’s falling economic freedom ranking, and welcome new reforms to the Endangered Species Act. Our interview this week is with David McGarry, Research Director at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. We’ll talk about stadium subsidies, special interests, labor union favoritism, municipal zoning, and who should have to pay for...

This week we cover new inflation data, public attitudes about Social Security, and California’s self-inflicted energy crisis. Our interview this week is with Kevin Corinth, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute. We’ll talk about social welfare spending, early childhood development, economic mobility, the Earned Incom...

This week we cover controversy at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, myths of the auto industry, and a new SPAC from the Trump kids. Our interview this week is with Emma Camp, associate editor at Reason magazine and author of the forthcoming book "Good Boundaries: Essays on the Age of Risk-Aversion." We’ll talk about Zoomers, online culture, college campuses, tradwives and girlbosses, the d...

This week we cover the Trump administration’s AI action plan, Detroit’s unlikely rebirth, pushing back on EU tech regulation, and why the golden age of air travel is now. Our interview this week is with Norbert Michel, vice president at the Cato Institute, director of the Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, and the author of the excellent book Crushing Capitalism: How the S...

This week we cover Dodd-Frank’s 15th anniversary, a victory for homeowners in Oregon, and an alternative to socialist grocery stores in New York City. Our interview this week is with John Charles, president of the Cascade Policy Institute in Portland, Oregon. We’ll talk about public transit, taxes, budgets, declining ridership, and what comes next for America’s bus and rail networks.  Free the Eco...