The Human Action Podcast

Comic Dave Smith joins Jeff and Bob for a compelling look at the poisonous political landscape in post-goodwill America.

The IRS plans to hire 87,000 new armed agents, while an FBI raid on Trump–the administration's open political rival–draws allegations of corruption. Economists and political scientists, from Mises to Robert Higgs to James Burnham to public choice scholars, explain why mission creep and abuse by state agencies is the rule rather than the exception. Mises on the managerial state: https://Mises.org/B...

Has economics fallen to politics? Court economists like Paul Krugman–we might call them "regime economists"–represent a profession in big trouble. Jeff and Bob discuss. Michael Tanner, "PIketty Gets it Wrong": https://Mises.org/HAP355-1 Bob Murphy on the economics establishment vs. Judy Shelton: https://Mises.org/HAP355-2 Jeff Deist on Nancy McLean's unprofessional attacks: https://Mises.org/HAP35...

Jeff Deist and Connor Mortell host an AMA during Mises University 2022 with the topic of "What You Can Do."

Connor Boyack, author of the new Tuttle Twins book America's History: 1215-1776, joins the show to make the Rothbardian case for de-bamboozling history. America’s History: A Tuttle Twins Series of Stories: TuttleTwins.com/History Rothbard on Historical Revisionism: Mises.org/HAP353-1

Today, inflation and prices are soaring. We know that Federal Reserve monetary policy is the cause. But why didn't something similar happen after the 2008 financial crash? Bob Murphy and professor Ross McKitrick discuss the government policies, Fed actions, and banking movements that lead up to the 2008 crisis, and why the current economic situation is different. Ross McKitrick on inflation then v...

We spend a lot of time on this show talking about central banking. This week we talk about central bankers themselves, from Powell to Brainard to Lagarde to Greenspan. Robert Aro joins.

Would you give up voting in exchange for no more taxes? Stephan Livera joins the show to discuss the curious distinction between economic freedom and personal or political freedoms, and how we weigh those freedoms. The Fraser/Cato Human Freedom Index: https://Mises.org/HFI The Heritage Index of Economic Freedom: https://Mises.org/IEF

Jeff is solo this week and hosts Tom Woods to ask a simple question: Why do social issues dominate our attention, to the detriment of economics and fiscal reality? Read Jeff's article "Why Social Issues Dominate" https://Mises.org/Dominate

This week Jeff is solo with very special guest Jimmy Rogers, the famed investor, Alabama native, and fan of Austrian economics.

Jeff talks to Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals about why gold still plays a major role in the global economy. Listen to Bob's interview with Keith at https://mises.org/BMS234 Find out more about Monetary Metals at https://monetary-metals.com

Bob and Jeff get into the weeds of Disney's shareholders, revenues, and holdings in light of the company's recent spat with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Jeff and Bob discuss the dynamics of the housing market in the context of a recent talk by Alex Pollock. "Hazlitt, Hayek, and How the Fed Made Itself into the World's Biggest Savings and Loan": https://mises.org/PollockAERC

Jeff and Bob Murphy talk about the state of gross economic ignorance in America today. Lessons for The Young Economist: https://Mises.org/YoungEcon Understanding Money Mechanics: https://Mises.org/BobMoney

This week, Jeff and Bob discuss oil prices. Why are gas prices spiking in the US, and what are D.C. politicians planning for oil companies?

Jeff and Bob discuss Biden's SOTU, the immorality of sanctions, and Fed Chair Powell's Pregnant Comments.

A recent New York Times article featuring economist Stephanie Kelton and her book on Modern Monetary Theory garnered criticisms, but not from the usual sources. No less than economist Larry Summers, former Treasury secretary and Harvard president, weighed in to criticize the Times for giving credence to MMT (he likened it to "quack cancer cures"). Reliably leftwing economics writer Noah Smith chim...

The Human Action Podcast wraps up the year with none other than the venerable Professor Paul Gottfried! This is our final show focused on the Old Right, the early 20th century political tradition which animated later libertarian figures like Murray Rothbard. How was this great legacy of peace and freedom on the Right—the Old Republic—lost to Cold Warriors and neoconservatives? Nobody is a better s...

We continue our look at leading figures from the Old Right with guest Tom Woods, who helped publish the late Murray Rothbard's The Betrayal of the American Right. Rothbard admired the courageous and revisionist voices promoting the Old Republic, and shared their antagonism for war and economic intervention. Tom and Jeff discuss great essays like Albert J. Nock's "Isaiah's Job" and Frank Chodorov's...

HL Mencken is the writer you need to read immediately. He was savagely brilliant, caustic, and witty, but also prolific across genres in ways almost unthinkable of journalists today. His skill with the English language was virtually unmatched in the 20th century, as was his deep and abiding contempt for utopian statism in any form. And his broadsides against two world wars were incredibly courageo...

Garet Garrett was among the most important figures from the literary, political, and laissez-faire economic traditions of the Old Right, but his name is hardly known today. In 1938 he penned "The Revolution Was," a remarkable essay about FDR's revolutionary New Deal and, more importantly, how it was accomplished. FDR's revolution had already happened, though few Americans understood it or grasped...

This week's show features a panel discussion recorded in late October at our annual Supporters Summit. Panelists Ryan McMaken, Jeff Deist, Mike Maharrey, and Tho Bishop lay out real strategies for achieving decentralization. Includes an introduction by Joey Clark. Recorded in St. Petersburg, Florida on October 22, 2021.

Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute joins the show to discuss what might be termed the Ron Paul Doctrine: a combination of laissez-faire at home, decentralized domestic political power (up to and including secession), robust free trade, and strict non-intervention abroad, This doctrine—which mirrors Mises's prescription for a liberal society—makes no phony distinctions between foreign and dom...

We wrap up our look at Murray Rothbard's sprawling two volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought with Dr. Joe Salerno, Rothbard's friend and colleague. This show covers the second volume exclusively, starting with the Frenchman JB Say and working through Ricardo, the British Currency School, John Stuart Mill, and finally Karl Marx. Salerno has penetrating insights about all...

We continue our look at Murray Rothbard's two volume An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought with a show focused on Adam Smith. Rothbard attacked him mercilessly as a plagiarist who set economic theory back decades with his muddled views on value and price. But was this criticism justified, or was Smith actually an early and valiant proponent of laissez-faire? Our guest Hunter H...