Free Thoughts

Kate Sills joins us for a conversation on smart contracts and the future of blockchain technology. We also discuss how Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency platforms are using smart contracts to ensure a more secure network, the DAO implosion and the future of cryptography. More about Kate Sills http://katelynsills.com/ Free Thoughts Episode: Your World on the Blockchain Encyclopedia of Libertarianism...

Cato Institute Vice President of Communications Khristine Brookes joins us to discuss the ever-changing world of news and media. How has social media changed the way we consume news? Are traditional news sources eventually going to die out? Further Readings/References: Cato Institute Media Highlights Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom W. Bell joins us for a Live Free Thoughts to talk about the emerging trend of bottom up governments. Private providers increasingly deliver services that political authorities formerly monopolized, inspiring greater competition and efficiency. We discuss this quiet revolution that is transforming governments with the potential to bring more freedom, peace and prosperity to people everywhere. F...

John Samples joins us to discuss how the Trump presidency is challenging America’s institutions. Political institutions in America are designed to stop someone like a populist or a demagogue; someone not fit for presidency. We discuss how America’s institutions have fared thus far, with a president that refuses to follow the norms, and if we should expect more celebrity presidents. Show notes and...

Emma Ashford gives us a primer on Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation that is also one of the last remaining absolute monarchies in the world. We talk about the history of the Saudi royal family, Saudi Arabia’s importance in Islam, the discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia after the first World War, the country’s legal system and culture, American-Saudi relations over the years, and what’s...

David Kopel joins us again to discuss firearms, gun violence, mass shootings, and whether a gun-free America is possible or desirable. Are there more mass shootings than ever before? What, if anything, can be done about them? We also discuss the differences between mass shootings and spree killings, popular gun control methods in other countries around the world, the definition of an “assault weap...

George Selgin joins us again on Free Thoughts for a conversation about the origins and role of the Federal Reserve. What is the Federal Reserve? What does it do, and what authority does it have? Why was the Fed created, and what was it’s role in the 2008 financial crisis? Show Notes and Further Reading Here is Selgin’s newest study on the founding of the Federal Reserve . Here are our previous Fre...

Will Duffield joins us this week to talk about the freedom of speech in the internet era. How has the shift to digital communication changed interpretations of the First Amendment? We discuss the implications of lower barriers to entry for ownership of the mechanisms for distribution of speech, draw a distinction between speech gatekeepers and speech enablers, think about whether big web companies...

Michael Strong joins us this week to talk about the role that capitalism and social entrepreneurship play in alleviating global poverty. We also discuss special economic zones, startup cities, the right of exit, mechanisms of public choice, and seasteading. Show Notes and Further Reading Strong is the author of Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World’s...

Brink Lindsey and Steven M. Teles join us to discuss four pathological policy regimes they say are responsible for the slow growth and high inequality that’s plagued the US economy in the twenty-first century. The case studies presented in Lindsey and Teles’s new book highlight how financial regulation, occupational licensing, intellectual property, and zoning and land use policies have been captu...

Dr. Frank of The Mr. T Experience joins us this week to talk about the politics of punk rock. What is punk rebelling against? Is it inherently political? Why do anti-authoritarian, counter-cultural movements so often reject free markets and libertarianism? Show Notes and Further Reading The Mr. T Experience on Spotify , iTunes , and Amazon Music . Dr. Frank’s young adult novels are King Dork  (200...

Charles J. Sykes joins us this week for a discussion on the origins of the populist, pro-Trump Right. What happened to the conservative intellectual infrastructure that was so robust in William F. Buckley, Jr.’s time? Why does it seem like politics now is more about attitude and tribal loyalty than ideas and discourse? How do groups like the Tea Party and media personalities like Ann Coulter fit i...

Elizabeth Anderson joins us to talk about her new book,  Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don’t Talk About It) . How has the nature of employment changed throughout history? Is the typical American workplace a dictatorship? Do we need a worker’s bill of rights? Show Notes and Further Reading Anderson’s book is available here . Here’s our previous episode with Prof. Ande...

Brock Cusick joins us this week to talk about the decentralized blockchain technology that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies run on, and about bitcoin itself: how does bitcoin work? What makes it valuable? Why is there a finite amount of bitcoin? What happens when all of the bitcoin is mined? What’s next for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology? Will the government step in to regulate this?...

Peter Van Doren joins us once more on the podcast, this time for a discussion on Richard Thaler’s work in behavioral economics. What’s the difference between behavioral economics and more traditional neoclassical economics? Is the goal of behavioral economics really to implement consumer preferences? Are “nudges” paternalistic and insulting, or do they merely—as behavioral economists would say—cre...

Jeffrey A. Singer joins us this week to talk about the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic in the United States. Why are there so many opioid users in the US? Specifically, what kinds of drugs are we talking about, fentanyl? Oxycontin? Is the overdose death problem a direct result of doctors over-prescribing opiates to patients for pain management? Show Notes and Further Reading Here’s a Cato briefin...

David Schoenbrod shares five specific tricks that politicians from both parties use to avoid public accountability. Is Washington more broken than people think? How can we more properly align our elected representatives’ incentives to keep them accountable? Does Congress have the willpower to change the rules of the game? Show Notes and Further Reading Schoenbrod’s newest book is  DC Confidential:...

John Glaser and Emma Ashford join us this week for a discussion on the “Iran nuclear deal” that’s been in the news lately. What is this deal—what did the US and Iran agree to? How did it happen? Why did Iran agree to limit their nuclear program in the first place? What are their regional goals? Is Iran complying with the deal so far? What will President Trump do? Show Notes and Further Reading Her...

Richard E. Wagner joins us for a discussion on life and thought of James M. Buchanan, who was one of the founders of public choice theory. Show Notes and Further Reading Wagner’s latest book is  James M. Buchanan and Liberal Political Economy: A Rational Reconstruction (2017). A good portion of what we discuss in this episode deals with Nancy MacLean’s account of Buchanan in Democracy in Chains: T...

Michael Malice joins us to give a primer on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. What’s North Korea like? Do the people there really believe the popular legends we’ve heard about the Kim family? Which is Kim Jong-un: a spoiled heir to a political dynasty, a paranoid lunatic with a big gun and 25 million hostages, or a coldly rational devious mastermind? Perhaps some combination of all three?...

Hans Noel joins us this week to share ten insights into how politics, campaigns, and political parties work. Is there such a thing as “the will of the people?” Why do political parties act the way they do? We also discuss Duverger’s Law, campaign finance, presidential elections, special interests, and grassroots movements. Show Notes and Further Reading “ Ten Things Political Scientists Know that...

William J. Watkins, Jr. joins us for a discussion on the Articles of Confederation and the ideas of the Anti-Federalists. Were the Articles of Confederation a failure? How did the country work under them and how is the US Constitution different? What can we learn from the Anti-Federalists? Watkins is a research fellow at the Independent Institute . Show Notes and Further Reading Watkins’s book is ...

Ryan M. Yonk joins us this week for a discussion about how we think about ecology and the environment. We talk about various environmental regulations including the Clean Air Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Endangered Species Act. What counts as a “natural balance” in ecology? Is the ideal environment one with no human impact at all? What is “political entrepreneurship” and how...

Grant Babcock joins us this week to talk about an essay he wrote in defense of natural rights-based libertarianism. What are natural rights? Are they intuitive? Is radicalism in defense of rights-based approaches to libertarianism effective? Is it necessary? Show Notes and Further Reading This episode of Free Thoughts was inspired by Grant Babcock’s “ The Robustness of Natural Rights Libertarianis...

Christopher Freiman joins us to talk about his Arguments for Liberty chapter on utilitarianism. What’s the utilitarian argument for libertarianism? What is utilitarianism? How does utilitarianism interact with rights-based approaches to morality? What are the rhetorical virtues of utilitarianism? Show Notes and Further Reading You can read Freiman’s  Arguments for Liberty  chapter in full here: “...