I write about economics, politics, and culture with the goal of increasing human freedom and flourishing in the world. I'm also the host of the weekly podcast Free the Economy.
Episode 141 of the Free the Economy podcast is up! We cover quarterly financial reporting, state-level AI regulations, spiking gas prices in CA, and cosmetology licenses for sale in D.C. Our interview is with economist Vance Ginnn, on patient-centered health care reform.
Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio warns of looming fiscal disaster, yet his “Big Cycles” leave little room for free will. Here's my review of his newest book, "How Countries Go Broke."
My interview for Episode 121 of the Free the Economy podcast is with Emily Ekins, director of polling at the Cato Institute. We’ll talk about Cato’s 2025 Fiscal Policy National Survey and how Americans feel about the economy, government spending, and prospect of higher taxes next year.
Episode 114 of the Free the Economy podcast has tariffs, climate hawks, and California minimum wages. Our interview is with Jeff Westling, expert on broadcast media, the Federal Communications Commission, news distortion, and the First Amendment.
Excited to share Episode 104 of the Free the Economy podcast! We cover U.S. job satisfaction, metals for the future, and inflation fears. Our interview this week is with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce (starts ~9:00). We talk about ESG investing and regulation.
Episode 78 of the Free the Economy podcast is out, ft. pork-barrel spending, guidance documents, restaurants with minimum ages, and hot jobs for young workers. Our interview is w/ Josh Bandoch of the Illinois Policy Institute on fighting poverty (interview starts ~10:54).
Episode 50 of the Free the Economy podcast is live! This week, we cover housing abundance, antitrust concerns about climate alliances, nuclear power, and the Supreme Court’s consideration of tax issues in Moore v. U.S.
Episode 43 of the Free the Economy podcast is live! This week, we talk about income and tax migration, refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the problem with federal crop insurance, and the recent CEO Summit at Liberty University.
Our interview this week on the Free the Economy podcast is with Commissioner Hester Peirce of the Securities and Exchange Commission, recorded earlier this year at the CEI Summit in Lake Tahoe.
Episode 40 of the Free the Economy podcast is live! We talk about Legos, pension funds, political polling, and a new visa for microchip experts. Our interview is w/ Iain Murray on the last 50 years of the liberty movement.
Episode 38 of the Free the Economy podcast includes the Powell Memo of 1971, textile recycling, Tokyo housing prices, & government transparency. Our interview this week is with Ashley Baker of the Committee for Justice, who gives us a preview of coming SCOTUS term.
This week on the Free the Economy podcast, we talk about where our doctors come from, what current inflation numbers tell us, and new pro-family policy reforms. Our interview this week is with Bryan Bashur of ATR. We discuss the problems w/ the Credit Card Competition Act.
This week on the Free the Economy podcast, we talk about the FTC and AI, suing “woke” corporations, and new business starts. Our interview is with Carrie Conko, Senior Vice President of the State Policy Network.
Episode 27 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about the income tax case going to the Supreme Court, the death of ESG, community meetings and housing permits, and the prospect for reforming civil asset forfeiture. Our interview this week is with Connor O’Brien of the Economic Innovation Group. We discuss immigration myths, economic growth, foreign-born entrepreneurs, and how the U.S. can poach the best talent from around the world.
Great blog post by my Competitive Enterprise Institute colleague Max Laraia on how Congress stepped on a rake when trying to help people with food allergies.
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing frameworks attempt to conjure up a comprehensive theory of all ethical business practices. But that is a fool’s errand, because different groups of people have legitimately different opinions about what the most desirable business practices are.
Episode 26 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about work trends for finance bros, Delta’s "carbon neutral" claims, the Economic Innovation Group’s case for high-skilled immigration, and the psychological reasons we think everything is getting worse. Our interview this week is with Taylor Barkley of the The Center for Growth and Opportunity. We discuss public attitudes toward big tech, safety for kids online, and poor government cybersecurity.
Almost 80 percent of new and upcoming graduates would prefer in-person or hybrid work over a full-remote position. Apparently kids these days don’t all want to be van-life digital nomads.
Episode 24 of the Free the Economy podcast is ready for your listening pleasure! This week we talk about central bank digital currencies, ESG investing claims, public housing, and new research on inequality. Our interview this week is with economist Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute. We discuss trade tariffs, empowered workers, the folly of attempting to RETVRN to the 1950s, and working-class wages.
Episode 22 of the Free the Economy podcast is live! This week we discuss the relationship between big government and big business, mission creep at the SEC, protecting property owners from eminent domain, and the puzzling L.A. bus project called “La Sombrita.” Our interview this week is with Brian Hawkins of People United for Privacy in which we discuss government transparency, confidential donors, the IRS, and the famous civil rights case NAACP v. Alabama (1958).
Episode 21 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about Warren Buffet’s electric vehicle pessimism, sky-high school funding in NYC, worker job satisfaction numbers, and why we’re in the top 1% of all podcasts. Our interview this week is with economist Vance Ginn. We discuss the strength of the U.S. economy, competition between states for people and capital, the debt ceiling negotiations, confusing unemployment numbers, and more.
Episode 20 of the Free the Economy podcast is live! This week we talk about the public's opinion of capitalism, Covid relief slush funds, parking mandates, partisan perceptions of Twitter, and the fun of #EconTwitterIRL. Our interview this week is with author, barista, magician, and Seabird Reader co-developer Jacob Grier. We discuss tobacco control, nutrition and public health, alcohol regulation, and the unintended consequences of prohibition.
The Biden administration recently implemented changes to fees on mortgages that are backed by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mark Calabria, former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, wrote about this development recently for National Review - and he’s not happy about it.
I had a great time down in Miami recently at the Florida International University - College of Law conference on climate finance and risk, many thanks to host Mario Loyola. This excellent write-up even features an action shot of me at the top of the page running my mouth on the ESG panel.
Episode 19 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about judicial deference and the Supreme Court, Biden’s new mortgage rate policy, how Americans are thinking about their retirement finances, and how expensive green tax credits are going to end up being. Our interview this week is with economic policy expert Adam Millsap from Stand Together. We discuss housing, tax reform, urban renewal, migration and competition between states, and more.
Episode 18 of the Free the Economy podcast is out! This week we talk about financial regulation and free speech, the tough year ahead for ESG investing, nostalgia for high tax rates, and new research on how Americans view their jobs. We also interview urbanist Max Dubler about the future of America's cities.
Episode 17 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about Michael Strain and Dominic Pino’s arguments for economic optimism, Jessica Melugin's defense of mergers and acquisitions, why the “pink tax” on women’s products is a myth, and Joshua Bandoch’s argument for the abundance agenda. Our interview this week is with Stephanie Slade of Reason Magazine. We discuss the history of fusionism in American politics, and how it has been frequently misunderstood.
If the federal government is willing to step in and hand out taxpayer dollars to failing officials in cities and states, it creates just as much of a perverse incentive as when they bail out failed companies after bad investments. It just means we get more failed, reckless decision-making in the future.
Episode 16 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about political pessimism, the return of the Malthusian environmentalists, the problem with Buy American policies, and housing affordability. Our interview is with Brooke Medina of the John Locke Foundation. We discuss politics in North Carolina and how each state in the union can learn from the success and failure of the other 49.
Episode 15 of the Free the Economy podcast is here! This week we talk about blue state bailouts, issues with “everything bagel liberalism,” free enterprise scholarship in Alabama, and the trials and tribulations of the Buy Nothing movement. Our interview this week is with Alex Trembath of the Breakthrough Institute. We discuss eco-modernism, the abundance agenda, and why we need permitting reform.
Episode 14 of the Free the Economy podcast is out! This week we talk corporate mega-mergers, political meddling with the Federal Reserve, “woke” language games, and the future of clean and safe nuclear energy. Our interview is with Dominic Pino of National Review. We review the situation with the Silicon Valley Bank bailout, financial regulation, the state of organized labor, and the ongoing fight between populists and libertarians in the world of economic policy.
Rules currently in the works cover everything from reducing student loan payments to banning menthol cigarettes. By a recent count, another 311 proposed rules are in the pipeline and would cost an additional $191 billion when final. Twenty-three of those rules will cost over $1 billion each.
CEOs and managers were encouraged to sign on to a long list of climate-change and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies with the promise that doing so would make them popular, less likely to be scrutinized by regulators, and generally lower the reputational risk to their firms. The recent vote in Congress is dramatic evidence that those promises have not been delivered.
Is the federal government rushing to help and not demanding stricter conditions because of the kind of politically trendy clients Silicon Valley Bank had and the public pronouncements they made, including on climate change?
Episode 12 of the Free the Economy podcast is back with drama at Silicon Valley Bank, ESG for your retirement account, and questions about how we fund government agencies. Our interview this week is with Patrick Hedger of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, who tells us about the Federal Trade Commission's shifting approach to competition and antirust (also the future of free speech and Section 230).
After synthesizing all of that data, the authors came to a couple of important conclusions. First, states with severe government interventions did not significantly improve health outcomes compared to states with more restrained approaches. Second, severe government interventions were strongly correlated with worse economic and educational outcomes. The economic and education damage was most severe for lower-income families and children.
Americans love their cars and their mobility. Not because they love tailpipe emissions, but because of the freedom and quality of life those vehicles allow them to have.
We know the "women only earn 77% as much as men" statistic is a myth, but there *is* a small gap. Should we assume that's because of sexism, though, or because men are more likely to study engineering and women are more likely to be early childhood education majors?
Episode 9 of the Free the Economy podcast is here. In this week’s episode we celebrate Adam Smith’s 300th birthday, look at state government responses to Covid, question the real problems behind baby formula bottlenecks, and digest some recent data about college-educated women in the workforce. Our interview this week is with CEI general counsel Dan Greenberg who tells us about the legal challenge to an unconstitutional tax created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
