The Economist Next Door

Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of productivity, jobs, and economic growth. But the deeper question is a human one: Will AI help us become more fully human? In this episode of The Economist Next Door , Dr. Paul Mueller brings together three guests to examine AI from different angles. They discuss how entrepreneurs, programmers, and educators are using AI today—and wrestle with...

As America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, host Paul Mueller sits down with historian Brad Birzer to explore the ideas that gave birth to the American experiment. Together, they examine what made the Declaration such a revolutionary document, why its principles remain relevant nearly two and a half centuries later, and the radical claim at its heart: that all p...

Host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER scholars Tom Savidge and Dave Hebert to discuss one of the most intriguing and controversial provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill: Trump Accounts. The program would provide government-seeded investment accounts for children, with supporters arguing that it could expand ownership, encourage long-term wealth building, and foster a stronger culture of saving an...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller is joined by Tom Savidge and Julia Cartwright of the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), along with Richard Morrison of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), to explore how basic economic thinking shows up in everyday life. Using accessible, real-world examples—from wedding dresses and tuxedos to sneakers, thrifted f...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller speaks with economist Vance Ginn about one of the most contentious issues in state and local fiscal policy: property taxes. Ginn argues that property taxes pose a fundamental challenge to private ownership, since homeowners must continue paying taxes on their property even after paying off their mortgage. The conversation explores alte...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , Paul Mueller is joined by fellow American Institute for Economic Research scholars Jeff Degner and Dave Hebert to examine the economics behind America's student debt crisis. The conversation explores how decades of federal aid and subsidized student loans helped fuel tuition inflation, reshape university incentives, and transform higher education into a...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller joins scholars Pete Earle and Jeffery Degner to explore why socialism continues to hold intellectual and popular appeal despite a long record of practical failure. The conversation examines the emotional and moral narratives that sustain socialist ideas, from claims about fairness and control to dissatisfaction with perceived inequalit...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , economist Paul Mueller sits down with AIER Senior Research Fellow Peter C. Earle to explore one of the biggest questions in global finance: Is the U.S. dollar losing its dominance? Drawing on Earle's extensive research into dollarization and international monetary systems, the conversation examines how the dollar became the world's reserve currency, why...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER colleagues Tom Savidge and Julia Cartwright to examine one of the most persistent claims in American politics: that billionaires pay little or nothing in federal taxes while ordinary workers carry the burden. The conversation breaks down the federal tax system — including taxes on income, capital gains, corporate earn...

What is the Austrian school of economics—and why does it still shape debates about markets, money, and government today? In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller is joined by economists Pete Earle and Jeff Degner to break down one of the most influential—and controversial—traditions in economic thought. From the marginal revolution to modern debates over central banking, they...

Is the Federal Reserve Chair the most powerful person in the free world? In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by Lydia Newman (Director of Monetary Policy, AIER) and William Luther (Director of AIER's Sound Money Project) to analyze the nomination of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve. Together, they unpack Warsh's views on inflation, the Fed's nearly $7 tri...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER colleagues Lydia Mashburn Newman and Pete Earle to discuss the 2008 financial crisis, from the collapse of Bear Stearns to the failure of Lehman Brothers and the emergency response to AIG.  They examine how shifting government actions created uncertainty during the crisis, and how the Federal Reserve's response—near-z...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller speaks with Jeff Degner and Aidan Grogan about the global fertility crisis and the sharp decline in family formation across advanced economies. Are falling birth rates primarily an affordability problem—or the result of deeper cultural changes? The conversation connects inflation, housing costs, and economic uncertainty with delayed ma...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller sits down with Nobel Prize–winning economist Vernon Smith to explore how markets actually work—and how people really behave within them. Smith, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for pioneering experimental economics, explains how simple market experiments reveal powerful truths: prices emerge from decentralized interact...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , Paul Mueller is joined by AIER colleagues Julia Cartwright and Ryan Yonk for a wide-ranging conversation on the past, present, and future of American energy. They explore how energy is produced in the United States, why the diversity of U.S. energy sources makes the system unusually robust, and how regulation and subsidies can undermine that strength. T...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER research fellows Thomas Savidge and Julia Cartwright to examine the push for wealth taxes in the United States and around the world. They explain how wealth taxes differ from traditional taxes on income and consumption, and what history reveals about their real-world effects. Drawing on examples from California, New Y...

How did a once-small federal government come to control a third of state budgets and shape everyday life across the country? Host Paul Mueller talks with AIER scholars Tom Savidge and Dave Hebert about the history of federal funding to states—from the Founding through the Great Society—and how Washington gradually became the dominant force in American governance. As the saying goes,  he who pays t...

On the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations , host Paul Mueller sits down with economists Dan Klein, professor at George Mason University and chief editor of Econ Journal Watch , and Eric Matson, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and lecturer at Catholic University, to explore Adam Smith's enduring impact. They discuss Smith as both an academic and a moral authority, the lessons...

Host Paul Mueller interviews AIER President Dr. Sam Gregg and AIER scholar Dr. Dave Hebert on a landmark Supreme Court decision that reshapes presidential tariff authority. In Learning Resources v. Trump , the Court ruled 6–3 that the president cannot use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as a blank check to impose tariffs. Paul and his guests break down why the ruling is a w...

Paul Mueller breaks down the Supreme Court's ruling limiting presidential tariff power with Tom Savidge and Julia Cartwright, and what it means for executive authority. Then, Tom, Pete Earle, and Jason Sorens dive into America's housing shortages, rising insurance costs, and exploding public pension obligations—exploring how political promises today can saddle taxpayers across generations. Debt, p...

What's driving the growing infighting on the political right? In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by Nathan W. Schlueter and Nikolai Wenzel to revisit fusionism—the postwar effort, associated with Frank Meyer, to reconcile liberty and virtue, free markets and moral order, drawing on a tradition that includes Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Alexis de Tocqueville. T...

In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER economists Dave Hebert and Julia Cartwright to introduce the Defending Freedom, Combating Collectivism team. They examine the rise of collectivism on both the right and left, how political incentives fuel cronyism and redistribution, and why politicians so often pick winners and losers at consumers' expense. What does...

In the debut episode of The Economist Next Door , host Paul Mueller (Senior Research Fellow at AIER) sits down with Samuel Gregg , President of the American Institute for Economic Research, to peel back the layers of modern economic debate. Moving beyond the dry jargon of spreadsheets and data points, Mueller and Gregg explore why the battle for free markets has shifted from a technical argument t...

What is wealth? Why shouldn't the government own stakes in corporations? And what are some non-market problems with tariffs? Richard Stern joins the show today to discuss. Richard Stern is Acting Director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and Director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget at The Heritage Foundation.

How much have state budgets been taken over by the federal government? Is anything wrong with the Bureau of Labor Statistics? And what's nationalist about trade surpluses? Tony Woodlief joins Econception to discuss. Tony Woodlief is State Policy Network's Senior Executive Vice President and Senior Fellow for SPN's Center for Practical Federalism.