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The Hayek Program Podcast includes audio from lectures, interviews, and discussions of scholars and visitors from the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The F. A. Hayek Program is devoted to the promotion of teaching and research on the institutional arrangements that are suitable for the support of free and prosperous societies. Implicit in this statement is the presumption that those arrangements are to some extent open to conscious selection, as well as the appreciation that the type of arrangements that are selected within a society can influence significantly the economic, political, and moral character of that society.
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke sits down with Don Boudreaux to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations . Boudreaux reflects on his many years teaching a graduate seminar on Smith at George Mason University, the layers of insight he continues to discover on each re-read, and why so few professional economists ever read the book cover to cover despite its enduring relevance to questions of monopoly power, trade, taxation, and public debt. The conversation traces the relationship between The Wealth of Nations and Smith's earlier The Theory of Moral Sentiments, dismantling the old "Adam Smith Problem" and explaining why markets need both bourgeois virtue and hard institutional discipline to function. Boudreaux and Boettke also celebrate George Mason's distinctive culture as a "books department" shaped by mentors such as Roger Garrison, Walter Williams, and James Buchanan. Dr. Donald J. Boudreaux is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Professor of Economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of many books, including The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2025), The Essential Hayek (Fraser Institute, 2015), Hypocrites and Half-Wits: A Daily Dose of Sanity from Cafe Hayek (Free to Choose Press, 2012), and Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2007). **This episode was recorded on May 28, 2026** Show Notes: Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982) Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Liberty Fund, 1982) David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (Liberty Fund, 1896) John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory Of Employment, Interest, And Money (Harper Collins, 1965) James M. Buchanan, What Should Economists Do? (Liberty Fund, 1979) James M. Buchanan and Richard E. Wagner, Democracy in Deficit: The Political Legacy of Lord Keynes (Liberty Fund, 2000) George F. Will, The Conservative Sensibility (Grand Central Publishing, 2019) Liberty Matters | “ Deirdre McCloskey and Economists’ Ideas about Ideas ” If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Paul Dragos Aligica delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference on resilience as a research frontier in mainline political economy. He traces how resilience has been largely absent from comparative economic systems scholarship, only to explode as a topic in the last decade, mostly imported from ecology and complexity theory rather than economics. He maps how three traditions at the core of the Mercatus research program—Austrian economics, public choice, and Ostromian institutionalism—each shape our understanding of resilience. Aligica also addresses claims that resilience thinking is merely a proxy for neoliberalism, closing with reflections on the normative stakes of self-governing societies. Dr. Paul Dragos Aligica is a Senior Research Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, KPMG Professor of Governance at the University of Bucharest, and a Senior Nonresident Scholar with the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh. His many publications include Governing Differences: Social Diversity, Polycentric Political Economy and Modus Vivendi (Edward Elgar, 2025) coauthored with Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Public Governance and the Classical Liberal Perspective: Political Economy Foundations (Oxford University Press, 2019), and Public Entrepreneurship, Citizenship, and Self-Governance (Cambridge University Press 2018). **This episode was recorded on October 11, 2024** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Bobbi Herzberg delivers a keynote lecture at the 2025 Markets & Society conference on Vincent Ostrom’s understanding of democracy and self-governance. Reflecting on Ostrom’s life, scholarship, and enduring influence, Herzberg explores four central themes in his work: the emergence of social order through shared beliefs and norms, the capacity of individuals to govern themselves, the importance of polycentric systems of governance, and the fragility of democratic institutions. Drawing on Ostrom’s collaborations with his wife, Elinor Ostrom, and his engagement with the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, Herzberg argues that democracy is not a mechanism imposed from above but an ongoing practice of cooperation, deliberation, and mutual responsibility. She concludes by emphasizing Ostrom’s vision of democracy as a living experiment in self-government that must be renewed and sustained by each generation. Dr. Roberta Herzberg is a Distinguished Senior Fellow and a Senior Research Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute. **This episode was recorded on October 17, 2025** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Emily Chamlee-Wright delivers a keynote lecture at the 2025 Markets & Society conference on the precarious state of liberalism and the cultural foundations necessary to sustain a free society. Drawing on the cultural economy framework she developed with Virgil Storr, Chamlee-Wright argues that liberalism faces not only overt constitutional threats but a deeper "soft tissue" problem: the erosion of the values, norms, and habits that make formal institutions work. Once degraded, she warns, no legislative remedy can restore them. She walks through four dimensions of this cultural ecosystem, shared mental models, generalized norms, cultural tools, and social networks, and shows how they can either reinforce liberal resilience or spiral into vicious cycles of decay. She closes with an urgent call to action: liberal intellectuals and scholars must boldly deploy the cultural tools at their disposal, the stories, symbols, and founding ideals of a free society to decisively reverse the illiberal drift before it becomes irreversible. Dr. Emily Chamlee-Wright is a senior affiliated scholar and Board Member at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She is the President and CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies and the author of numerous books, including The Cultural Foundations of Economic Development (Routledge 1997) and Culture and Enterprise (Routledge 2000), co-authored with the late Don Lavoie. **This episode was recorded October 19, 2025** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
Welcome to our new series, The Hayekian Triangle. This series will feature a range of conversations between our hosts: Virgil Storr, Chris Coyne, and Peter Boettke. On this episode, the three sit down to mark the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations — and to ask a deceptively simple question: why are we still reading a book written a quarter-millennium ago? From the invisible hand to the division of labor, Smith's ideas have become so embedded in how we think about markets and society that it's easy to forget just how radical they originally were. Virgil, Chris, and Pete dig into what Smith actually said, why the standard takes on laissez-faire and self-interest so often miss the mark, and what a Scottish moral philosopher writing in 1776 still has to teach us about wealth, poverty, and the institutions that make human flourishing possible. Whether you're coming to Smith for the first time or returning to him with fresh eyes, this conversation is a reminder that the greatest works in political economy aren't monuments to be admired from a distance — they remain living inputs into the science of today. **This episode was recorded on April 3, 2026** Show Notes: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982) Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Liberty Fund, 1982) Kenneth Boulding, " After Samuelson, Who Needs Adam Smith? " (History of Political Economy, 1971) Kenneth Boulding, " Economics as a Moral Science " (The American Economic Review, 1969) Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (Penguin Press, 2019) Raghuram Rajan, The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind (Penguin Press, 2019) Deirdre McCloskey, The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce ; Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can't Explain the Modern World ; Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World (University of Chicago Press, 2006, 2010, 2016) Martha Nussbaum, The Cosmopolitan Tradition: A Noble but Flawed Ideal (Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2019) Ludwig von Mises, “ Why Read Adam Smith Today? ” (FEE, 2015) Richard Ebeling, " Celebrating Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations at 250 Years " (Future of Freedom, 2026) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke and Liya Palagashvili reflect on her journey from undergraduate student organizer to public intellectual, policy analyst, and Director of the Labor Policy Project. They discuss how Liya has approached her career with a startup mindset — exploring her work on the gig economy and portable benefits to create more dynamic and resilient labor markets. Along the way, they reflect on the importance of mentorship, “failing fast,” and the tension between holding a strong vision while remaining open to new evidence. Dr. Liya Palagashvili is a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Labor Policy Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Her research focuses on labor regulations, the gig economy, and the changing nature of work. She regularly writes for her Substack, Labor Market Matters . **This episode was recorded on March 31, 2026** Show Notes: Mary Catherine Bateson, Composing a Life (Grove Press, 2001) Casey B. Mulligan, The Redistribution Recession: How Labor Market Distortions Contracted the Economy (Oxford University Press, 2014) Edited by Richard A. Epstein, Mario J. Rizzo, and Liya Palagashvili, The Routledge Handbook of Classical Liberalism (Routledge, 2026) Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016) ParentData If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke talks with Bill Easterly about his new book, Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest . Drawing on figures such as Adam Smith, P.T. Bauer, and Amartya Sen, Easterly argues that material progress alone cannot justify the denial of human dignity and consent. The conversation explores the idea of the “benevolent autocrat” and examines how both colonialism and modern development policy have too often treated people as objects of improvement rather than agents of their own lives. Along the way, Boettke and Easterly discuss state capacity, slavery, colonialism, migration, and post-communist transitions, making the case that freedom is not just a means to development but an end in itself. Dr. William Easterly is Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University and Co-director Emeritus of the NYU Development Research Institute. He is the author of numerous books, including The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (Basic Books, 2014), The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Penguin Books, 2006), and The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (MIT Press, 2001). **This episode was recorded on February 2, 2026** Show Notes: Acemoglu and Robinson, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (Penguin Books, 2020) Amartya Sen, Development As Freedom (Vintage, 2000) David Colander, Why aren't Economists as Important as Garbagemen? (Routledge, 1991) Matt Kibbe, Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto (HarperCollins, 2015) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chandran Kukathas delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference arguing that an open society is best understood as a regime of toleration—one that can never be perfectly realized because every regime ultimately relies on power. He explores why toleration cannot be neatly limited by moral theory, why appeals to justice often beg the question, and how societies move closer to or further from openness depending on how they handle issues such as immigration and social integration. Along the way, he reflects on liberalism, pluralism, empire, and the challenge of sustaining a society open enough to accommodate different ways of life. Dr. Chandran Kukathas is Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Political Science at School of Social Sciences at Singapore Management University and a Distinguished Affiliated Fellow at the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center. He is the author of many books, including Dialogues on Immigration and the Open Society (Routledge, 2025), Immigration and Freedom (Princeton University Press, 2021), and The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory of Diversity and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2007). **This episode was recorded on October 22, 2023** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke talks with former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm and Don Boudreaux about their new book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom , a sweeping challenge to seven persistent myths about American capitalism. The conversation ranges from the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression to the financial crisis. Along the way, they reflect on why these myths endure, why economic freedom has done more than any other force to improve the lives of ordinary people, and why economists and educators must keep returning to history and basic economic reasoning in an age when old policy errors are constantly resurrected in new forms. Dr. Gramm served six years in the U.S. House of Representatives and eighteen years in the U.S. Senate where he was Chairman of the Banking Committee. Gramm is a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He was Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and is now Vice Chairman of Lone Star Funds. He taught Economics at Texas A&M University and has published numerous articles and books including The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024), coauthored with Robert Ekelund and John Early, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2022 and winner of the 2024 Hayek Book Prize. Dr. Boudreaux is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Professor of Economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University; an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute; and holds the Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. He is the author of numerous books, including The Essential Hayek (Fraser Institute, 2015) and Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2007). Show Notes: Sven Beckert’s, Capitalism: A Global History (Penguin Press, 2025) Thomas Sowell’s, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles: Revised Edition (Basic Books, 2007) Adam Smith’s, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982) Milton and Rose Friedman’s, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (Harper Collins Publishers, 1990) Fraser Institute | Realities of Socialism **This episode was recorded on February 25, 2026** If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
**Content Warning** This episode includes discussions of sexual assault, which may be distressing for some listeners. Please listen with care. On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, David Schmidtz delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference on the idea of self-governance. Drawing on examples from economics, moral philosophy, and higher education, Schmidtz argues that rational choice is less about optimization and more about choosing the frameworks within which decisions become meaningful. He examines the parallels between individual and corporate self-governance, the role of mission statements as “compasses” rather than formulas, and the dangers of over-specialization in academia. Along the way, he reflects on truth-seeking, academic freedom, moral education, and the human need for purposiveness, ultimately challenging universities to cultivate enduring capacities rather than narrow skill sets. Dr. David Schmidtz is Professor and Presidential Chair of Moral Science at West Virginia University’s Chambers College of Business & Economics, Distinguished Affiliated Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Editor-in-Chief of Social Philosophy & Policy . He has published numerous books, including Living Together: Inventing Moral Science (Oxford University Press, 2023), A Brief History of Liberty (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) coauthored with Jason Brennan, and his leading textbook Environmental Ethics What Really Matters, What Really Works (Oxford University Press, 2024) co-edited with Dan Shahar is now in its fourth edition. **This episode was recorded October 13, 2024. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke speaks with historian David T. Beito about his new biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt. They discuss FDR’s record on civil liberties, including government surveillance and efforts to police speech; the administration’s approach to refugees and antisemitism; and early-career episodes like the Newport Sex Scandal. The conversation also covers how progressive-era ideas shaped FDR’s political instincts, how New Deal programs like the NRA and AAA cartelized industries, and why key wartime choices, such as unconditional surrender and “rescue through victory,” may have prolonged World War II. They close with lessons for today: the dangers of malleable legal categories and the need for durable institutional guardrails against executive abuse. Dr. David T. Beito is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama. He is the author of many books, including FDR: A New Political Life (Carus Books, 2025), The New Deal’s War on the Bill of Rights: The Untold Story of FDR’s Concentration Camps, Censorship, and Mass Surveillance (Independent Institute, 2025), and T.R.M. Howard: Doctor, Entrepreneur, and Civil Rights Pioneer (Independent Institute, 2018), coauthored with Linda Royster Beito. **This episode was recorded December 8, 2025. Show Notes: Presidential Greatness Project Thomas C. Loenard’s book, Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era (Princeton University Press, 2016) Herbert Croly’s book, The Promise of American Life: Updated Edition (Princeton University Press, 2014) Murray Rothbard’s book, America’s Great Depression (Mises Institute, 2000) David Michaelis’ book, Eleanor (Simon & Schuster, 2021) Daniel T. Rodgers’ book, Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age (Harvard University Press, 2000) David Hackett Fischer’s book, Liberty and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2004) George Selgin’s book, False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947 (University of Chicago Press, 2025) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chris Coyne talks with Abigail Hall and Jayme Lemke about Kenneth and Elise Boulding’s insights into what it means to build and sustain peace. Drawing on her paper “ In Search of Stable Peace ,” Hall explores Kenneth Boulding’s framework for understanding peace and war, focusing on the roles of strain and strength and the shifting taboo lines that shape movement between stable and unstable peace. Lemke then turns to Elise Boulding’s vision of peace as an active, everyday practice, emphasizing the often-overlooked forms of peacebuilding embedded in ordinary social relationships and institutions. Together, the conversations emphasize peace as a process shaped by ideas, institutions, and imagination. Dr. Abigail R. Hall is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa and a Senior Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She has published numerous books, including her most recent satirical book, How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite co-authored with Christopher J. Coyne (2024). She holds a PhD in Economics from George Mason University and is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Dr. Jayme Lemke is a Senior Research Fellow and a Senior Fellow with the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She is co-editor of Economy, Polity, and Society , an Associate Editor for the Review of Behavioral Economics, and Secretary of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics . Show Notes: The Journal of Conflict Resolution Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978) Robert Higgs’s book, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (Independent Institute, 2025) Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace (Syracuse University Press, 2000) Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956). Elise Boulding’s book, The Underside of History: A View of Women Through Time (SAGE Publications, 1992) Julian Simon’s book, The Ultimate Resource 2 (Princeton University Press, 1998) **This episode was recorded September 15, 2025 and December 29, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chris Coyne delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference on the foundations of peace. He contrasts “top-down” peacemaking driven by elites with “bottom-up” peacemaking that emerges from the everyday practices of ordinary people. Coyne argues that much of the social-scientific and policy conversation treats peace as a public good best supplied through state-intervention. He develops an alternative framework—pax hominem—that treats peace as an emergent, learned, and constantly renewed process. Drawing on mainline political economy and the work of Kenneth Boulding, Coyne shows how peaceful cooperation depends on local knowledge, social norms, and institutions that help people navigate conflict without violence across families, communities, and markets. Together, these insights point toward a research and policy agenda focused less on imposing order and more on creating space for self-governance and the bottom-up cultivation of peace. Dr. Christopher J. Coyne is Associate Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center and Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He has published numerous books, including How to Run Wars: A Confidential Playbook for the National Security Elite (Independent Institute, 2024), In Search of Monsters to Destroy: The Folly of American Empire and the Paths to Peace (Independent Institute, 2022), and Doing Bad by Doing Good: Why Humanitarian Action Fails (Stanford University Press, 2013). **This episode was recorded October 20, 2024. Show Notes: Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978) Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace (Syracuse University Press, 2000) James C. Scott’s book, Seeing Like a State (Yale University Press, 1999) Caroline Elkin’s book, Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire (Penguin Random House, 2023) James M. Buchanan’s Nobel Prize Lecture Elinor Ostrom et. al’s paper, “ Covenants with and without a Sword: Self-Governance Is Possible ” (APSR, 2013) Virgil storr et. al’s book, Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster: Lessons in Local Entrepreneurship (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) Mikayla Novak’s book, Freedom in Contention: Social Movements and Liberal Political Economy (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021) Virgil Storr and Ginny Choi’s book, Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
**This episode was recorded September 29, 2025. On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chris Coyne speaks with Amy Crockett and Erwin Dekker about how economics shapes our understanding of peace, conflict, and cooperation, drawing on the work of Kenneth Boulding and James Buchanan. First, Coyne speaks with Amy Crockett about her upcoming paper, “Addressing Peace in Undergraduate Economics Textbooks.” Crockett examines how peace is often treated as a background assumption in economics education and presents evidence from introductory and upper-level textbooks on how war, conflict, and policy responses are typically framed, highlighting missed opportunities to emphasize bottom-up, cooperative solutions. Coyne then speaks with Erwin Dekker about his paper, “ Kenneth Boulding and James Buchanan on the Public Function of Economics .” Decker discusses how both thinkers understood economics as shaping the public “image” of social life, emphasizing exchange, moral foundations, and the importance of economists addressing citizens rather than policymakers. Together, these conversations show how economic ideas—whether taught in classrooms or communicated to the public—can either reinforce conflict-centered narratives or help sustain cultures of peace and cooperation. This is the fourth episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 of the Markets & Society Journal or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics . Dr. Erwin Dekker is Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He has published numerous books, including Realizing the Values of Art (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), Jan Tinbergen (1903-1994) and the Rise of Economic Expertise (Cambridge University Press, 2021), and The Viennese Students of Civilization: The Meaning and Context of Austrian Economics Reconsidered (Cambridge University Press, 2016). Dr. Amy Crockett is a Senior Lecturer at Vanderbilt University. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from George Mason University, an M.A. in teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education, and a B.S. in systems engineering & economics from George Mason University. She is an Alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Show Notes: Tensions in Political Economy Series Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956). Robert Higgs’ paper, “ Wartime Prosperity? A Reassessment of the U.S. Economy in the 1940s ” (The Journal of Economic History, 2009). James Buchanan’s paper, “ Positive Economics, Welfare Economics, and Political Economy ” (The Journal of Law & Economics, 1959). James M. Buchanan’s Nobel Prize Lecture If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Mario Small delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference on financial institutions and racial inequality—using payday lenders as a lens to understand how place and institutional context shape economic life. Small begins with a deceptively simple question: how often is it easier to reach a payday lender than a traditional bank—and does that vary by neighborhood racial composition? He shows that racial gaps in access and attitudes persist even after accounting for socioeconomic differences, and argues that proximity, convenience, and institutional experience help shape preferences, even as most Americans hold negative views of payday lenders. Together, these insights offer a nuanced account of how neighborhood context and institutional behavior interact to reproduce inequality, challenging simple explanations rooted in individual choice and highlighting the importance of lived experience in economic decision-making. Dr. Mario L. Small is Quetelet Professor of Social Science at Columbia University. A University of Bremen Excellence Chair, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and the Sociological Research Association, Small has published award-winning articles and books on urban inequality, personal networks, and the relationship between qualitative and quantitative methods. His books include Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio , Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life -- both of which received the C. Wright Mills Award for Best Book -- and Someone To Talk To: How Networks Matter in Practice , which received the James Coleman Best Book Award among other honors. **This episode was recorded October 12, 2024. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram
On this episode, Chris Coyne speaks with Brigitta Jones, Nathan Goodman, and Karla Segovia about Kenneth Boulding’s insights on war, peace, and the political economy of conflict applied to contemporary questions about military organization and the dynamics of civil conflict. First, Jones discusses her coauthored paper with Coyne, “ The Political Economy of Milorg ,” which uses Boulding’s concept of Milorg to examine the entanglement of public agencies and private firms in the military sector. She highlights how knowledge problems, incentives, and political processes shape what the military produces and how those decisions affect the broader economy. Goodman and Segovia then join Coyne to discuss their paper, “ Unstable Peace in El Salvador ,” coauthored with Abby Hall. Drawing on Boulding’s framework, they examine how shifting expectations, beliefs, and “taboo lines” eroded the country’s fragile peace, highlighting how strains such as land concentration, poverty, repression, and escalating violence contributed to the outbreak of civil war. Together, these conversations illustrate how Boulding’s insights illuminate both the functioning of the modern military-industrial landscape and the complex processes through which societies move between peace and war. This is the third episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 of the Markets & Society Journal or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics . Brigitta Jones is a PhD student in Economics at George Mason University. Her research interests include the welfare state of the United States. Dr. Nathan P. Goodman is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research broadly focuses on political economy, public choice, market process economics, New Institutional Economics, and defense economics. Dr. Karla Segovia is a program manager for Research & Programs and a Research Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where she works on the Markets & Society conference and journal. She is also an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. Show Notes: Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978) Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956). U.S. Congressional Testimony by Kenneth Boulding (1969) **This episode was recorded October 27, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode, Peter Boettke chats with Angus Burgin, Simon Halliday, and Glory Liu to explore their innovative work at the Center for Economy and Society and the creation of a new undergraduate program in Moral and Political Economy. They dive into the revival of political economy as a cross-disciplinary field, the pedagogical innovations shaping the next generation of thinkers, the coming 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations , and more. Dr. Angus Burgin is Associate Professor of History and Founding Director of the Program in Moral and Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University. He serves as Co-Executive Editor of the book series, Intellectual History of the Modern Age , and he is the author of The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression (Harvard University Press, 2015). Dr. Simon Halliday is Associate Research Professor and Associate Director in the Center for Economy and Society at Johns Hopkins University. He is the co-author (with Sam Bowles) of an intermediate microeconomics textbook, Microeconomics: Competition, Conflict and Coordination (Oxford University Press, 2022). Dr. Glory Liu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. She is the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2022). Show Notes: John Hopkins University’s BA in Moral + Political Economy Core Econ Adam Smith’s book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982) Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s book, Women and Economics (Small, Maynard & Company, 1898) Tim Rogan’s book, The Moral Economists: R. H. Tawney, Karl Polanyi, E. P. Thompson, and the Critique of Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 2018) Warren Samuels’ paper, “ Adam Smith and the Economy as a System of Power ” **This episode was recorded October 30, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode, Chris Coyne speaks with Michael Romero, Mikayla Novak, and Anna Claire Flowers about the enduring influence of Kenneth Boulding on how we understand peace and cooperation. Romero discusses his paper “ Markets as a Peace Lab ,” coauthored with Virgil Storr, which explains how markets act as spaces where individuals cultivate trust, empathy, and peaceful exchange. Novak joins to discuss her paper “ Kenneth Boulding’s The Image: A Cognitive Basis for Peace Entrepreneurship ,” connecting Boulding’s insights on human cognition to the creative work of fostering peace. In the final part of the episode, Coyne and Flowers reflect on their coauthored paper “ The Family and the Stable Peace ,” highlighting how the family serves as a training ground for the habits and relationships that sustain cooperation. Together, these conversations show how Boulding’s vision of peace continues to shape research on economics, society, and human flourishing. This is the second episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 of the Markets & Society Journal or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics . Dr. Michael R. Romero is Professor of Economics and Business at Thales College. Previously, he was an associate program director for Academic & Student Programs and a Research Fellow for the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Dr. Mikayla Novak is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She is a contributing editorial board member of Cosmos + Taxis and recently was the editor of Liberal Emancipation: Explorations in Political and Social Economy (Springer Nature, 2025). Anna Claire Flowers is a PhD student in Economics at George Mason University and is currently a fellow in the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Her research interests include family economics, in particular the economic significance of family relationships and the economic factors that influence family decision-making. Show Notes: Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978) Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society (University of Michigan Press, 1956). Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace (Syracuse University Press, 2000) Learning for Peace Initiative | United Nations Children’s Fund The Review of Austrian Economics F.A. Hayek’s book, The Sensory Order: An Inquiry into the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology (The University of Chicago Press, 1952) Gerald P. O’Driscoll and Mario Rizzo’s book, The Economics of Time and Ignorance (Routledge, 1996) Israel Kirzner’s book, The Meaning of the Market Process: Essays in the Development of Modern Austrian Economics (Routledge, 1992) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nina Bandelj delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference on the social life of money for children. Drawing on research about what she calls the “parenting economy,” she shows that parents increasingly treat children as human capital investments, using savings plans, loans, and educational spending to secure their futures. Bandelj argues that the financialization of family life reflects parental pressures and social inequality, calling for children to be seen as a shared public responsibility rather than private investments. Dr. Nina Bandelj is Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine and the President of the Sociological Research Association. Her articles have been published in top discipline and specialty journals such as the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Theory and Society, and Socio-Economic Review. She has published various books, including Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting (Princeton University Press, forthcoming), Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works (Princeton University Press, 2017) coauthored with Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer), and Socialism Vanquished, Socialism Challenged: Eastern Europe and China, 1989-2009 (Oxford university Press, 2012) coedited with Dorothy Solinger. **This lecture was recorded October 22, 2023 at the second annual Markets & Society conference. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
On this episode, Chris Coyne and Peter Boettke explore the life and legacy of economist Kenneth E. Boulding, Boettke's former professor and mentor. Boettke recalls his experiences in Boulding's Great Books in Economics course and their conversations outside of class about peace, economics, and poetry. The conversation outlines Boulding’s path from studying chemistry at Oxford and an unusually early publication in the Economic Journal to his formative time in Chicago with Frank Knight and his later academic years. Coyne and Boettke discuss why no “Boulding school” emerged, how Boulding's ideas can and are still inspiring new research on institutions, civil society, and peace, and more. This is the first episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 of the Markets & Society Journal or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics . Dr. Peter J. Boettke is Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University. He has published numerous books, including The Historical Path to Liberty and Human Progress (Universidad Francisco Marroquín Press, 2025) coauthored with Rosolino Candela, The Socialist Calculation Debate: Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance (Cambridge University Press, 2024) coauthored with Rosolino Candela and Tegan Truitt, and The Struggle for a Better World (Mercatus Center, 2021). Show Notes: Kenneth Boulding’s article, “ After Samuelson, Who needs Smith? ” (History of Political Economy, 1971) James Buchanan’s article, “ What Should Economists Do? ” (SEJ, 1964) Frank Knight’s article, “ The Theory of Investment Once More: Mr. Boulding and the Austrians ” (QJE, 1935) Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image (University of Michigan Press, 1969) Kenneth Boulding's AEA address, " Economics as a Moral Science " (The American Economic Review, 1969) Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace (University of Texas Press, 1978) Kenneth Boulding’s book, Three Faces of Power (SAGE Publications, 1990) Albert Hirschman’s book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Harvard University Press, 1972) Raghuram Rajan’s book, The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind (Penguin Press, 2020) Center for Research on Conflict Resolution Journal of Conflict Resolution **This episode was recorded September 10, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium
