The Human Action Podcast

This weekend, we feature a talk that Jeff Deist gave at our recent Mises Circle event in Phoenix, Arizona. Deist lays out four possible strategic options for Libertarians, including the political option, the strategic withdrawal option, winning hearts and minds, and actual resistance—civil disobedience.

Our guest this weekend is Louis Rouanet, a former summer fellow at the Mises Institute. Louis writes frequently for Mises.org, and he is currently a student at the Paris Institute of Political Studies. Jeff gets Louis' take on the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, and finds out what the mood is among the French people. They discuss whether the French—like Americans after 9/11—will allow a crackdo...

Our guest this weekend is Tom DiLorenzo, a professor of economics and history at Loyola University Maryland, and also a friend and Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute. Our topic is the PC cancer that is spreading across campuses and universities in America—not only Yale and the University of Missouri. Tom is particularly well equipped to handle this topic, having fought the PC monster throughout...

That’s what William Boyes says must be done to change education. Boyes makes his case this weekend as part of the Mises Circle at the Hilton Phoenix Airport Saturday, November 7, as he joins Ron Paul, Lew Rockwell, Charles Goyette, and me to examine how to build a world where states are weak and society is strong. Watch at mises.org/live Public schools at every level paint the economy as merely a...

Bob Murphy is our returning guest this weekend, as we wrap up a three-part series on the lousy, anti-market healthcare system in the US. He’s co-authored a terrific new book called 'The Primal Prescription', which may well be the first thorough analysis of the modern American healthcare system by an Austrian economist. Bob eviscerates the arguments for Obamacare, and debunks all of the many myths...

Dr. Michel Accad is a practicing cardiologist who blogs for a medical audience at alertandoriented.com. He's written several articles about healthcare for mises.org, and you won't find many MDs as well versed in Austrian economics. Dr. Accad talks about practicing medicine in the Age of Obamacare, where every symptom and every treatment must fit into an insurance company code. Doctors are miserabl...

Charles Hugh Smith and I discuss the absurdly anti-market healthcare system in the US, which has been captured both by regulators and insurance lobbyists. Why do US consumers tolerate not knowing what drugs and procedures really cost? What will it take to allow market pricing in medicine? Will the best and brightest continue to shun medical school in an age of Obamacare? And will the market overco...

Our guest this weekend is Edward Stringham, professor of Economics at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He is the author of a fantastic new book called 'Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life'. In this book, Ed looks back at the history of private legal systems, and in so doing demolishes the idea that only the state can manage and adjudicate human conflicts. Today,...

Rod Martin, a co-founder of PayPal and world renown philosopher-capitalist, joins Jeff for a wide-ranging interview covering such topics as the refugee situation in Europe, unrest in the Middle East, and why some cultures are more prosperous than others. Martin contrasts the difficulties world governments have in confronting global macro-crises with the hope and resilience of technological innovat...

Bill Bonner, founder of Agora Financial, joins the show to discuss the hysteria preceding Janet Yellen's announcement last week that the Fed would not raise interest rates. We also consider various ugly endgames for the US dollar, and whether federal debt will all come crashing down with a bang or a whimper.

Our guest this week is Patrick Barron, a professor of economics and a student of global currency markets. Patrick and I dissect the Fed's big announcement this past week not to raise interest rates, and consider whether Janet Yellen and other central bankers really believe in what they're doing. Is it all just to save themselves from the judgment of history, by kicking the can down the road? Have...

Our guest this weekend is Professor Per Bylund, whose article on immigration (https://mises.org/library/refugees-and-migrants-world-government-meddling) elicited plenty of discussion on mises.org and social media earlier this week. Dr. Bylund argues that property rights, not government immigration policies, should serve as the natural regulator of immigration and human movement. Since the state is...

Our guest this weekend is Jim Rickards, the author of the 'New York Times' bestseller 'The Death of Money' and a well-known expert in geopolitics and global capital. Jim and Jeff discuss the unfolding drama at the Fed, which can't decide when—if ever—QE will come to an end. They also discuss possible endgame scenarios for liquidating unprecedented amounts of sovereign, commercial, and household de...

Last Monday's mini-crash in equity markets reminded many people of the dark days following the Crash of 2008. The 400 richest people in the world collectively lost $124 billion—at least on paper—in a single day. And the average investor may get tired of seeing his or her net worth take a nosedive every 7 or 8 years. Here to make sense of market crashes is our own Dr. Joe Salerno. Why does the fina...

Brazil is in a meltdown: its stock markets are crashing, inflation is over 10%, and huge numbers of people are marching in the street to demand the impeachment of President Dilma Rouseff. And while collectivism runs deep in Brazilian politics and academia, the tide may be turning—some protesters now carry signs demanding “Less Marx, More Mises.” Our friend Helio Beltrão, President of Mises Institu...

Dr. Nair recently spoke at our Mises Boot Camp seminar, and did a great job presenting our introductory course on money. She explains the origins of money, how it evolved, how it derives value, and how it should function in society. Her lecture is a great 30 minute refresher course for anyone familiar with the evolution of money from the perspective of Menger and Mises, and it's the perfect introd...

This weekend we feature part of a talk by our old friend Dr. Robert Higgs, a longtime Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and libertarian stalwart. Bob, author of the famous 'Crisis and Leviathan', recently spoke at Mises University on the critical topic of war and the growth of the state. He considers war the "master key" that enables government to grow in size, scope, and power. This poignant s...

Recorded at Mises University 2015, Tom discuses the impact that Mises has had on his life, his time as a summer fellow at the Mises Institute, and the importance of the Mises Institute in spreading the ideas of liberty.

Jeff and Bob discuss his new book, 'Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action', Bob's new opportunity at Texas Tech University, and all things Bob Murphy. http://store.mises.org/Choice-Cooperation-Enterprise-and-Human-Action-P10979.aspx

Karl-Friedrich Israel is a Mises Institute Summer Fellow and a PhD candidate under Professor Guido Hülsmann. The focus of his research is to identify and confront the prevailing arguments for central banks. Karl and Jeff discuss the current situation in Greece from his perspective as a German. Old hostilities between the north and south in Europe are being inflamed, which calls into question the e...

Tate Fegley, a Summer Fellow at the Mises Institute, combines his work in criminal justice at Boise State University with Hoppean and Rothbardian analyses of private law and private police. Tate and Jeff discuss what crime and punishment might look like in a libertarian society, and how to convince skeptical libertarians that private police can do a better job of dealing with violence, theft, and...

Jeff Deist and Patrick Barron discuss European integration, which pits creditor nations like Germany against hapless debtors like Greece under the yoke of the Eurozone. With the Euro operating as a political project rather than a real currency, spendthrifts like Greece chronically find themselves unable to service debt. Greece, says Patrick, represents an example of Say's Law in action and a clear...

Łukasz Dominiak's research as a Summer Fellow at the Mises Institute involves the cultural aspects of a libertarian legal system, with an emphasis on the works of Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Łukasz and I discuss what a private law society might look like in Europe, starting with Hoppe's example of "10,000 Liechtensteins." We discuss how private law develops from tradition and custom, rather than top-heavy...

Demelza Hays, a Summer Fellow at the Institute and a graduate student of the Toulouse School of Economics in France, represents the new breed of young libertarians. Having grown up reading Rothbard, she's already firmly in the anarcho-capitalist camp. And unlike her parent's generation, she recognizes that America is far from the freest place on earth. Since her teenage years Demelza has developed...

Our guest this week is Louis Rouanet, a Summer Fellow at the Mises Institute and a formidable young Austro-libertarian scholar. Louis studies economics at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, and has published several articles at mises.org relating to his research work at the Institute. Jeff and Louis discuss the deep French libertarian tradition, which goes far beyond Bastiat and Jean-Baptis...