The Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Podcast

Larry Summers, a Harvard economics professor and former US Treasury Secretary, dives into his remarkable career in this discussion. He navigates the complexities of balancing truth and social justice in academia amidst current controversies. He shares insights on transitioning from physics to economics, emphasizing the importance of empirical methods and government intervention. Summers critically evaluates economic policy lessons learned from crises like the Great Recession and COVID-19, advocating for responsive, comprehensive policymaking to strengthen economic outcomes.

Doug Ducey, 23rd Governor of Arizona, joins the podcast to discuss how he made Arizona the first state to pass Universal School Choice and Universal Licensing Recognition as well as his major influences and career which includes growing Coldstone Creamery into an international company as CEO. Jon Hartley is an economics researcher with interests in international macroeconomics, finance, and labor economics and is currently an economics PhD student at Stanford University. He is also currently a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a research associate at the Hoover Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennifer Burns (Hoover Reserch Fellow and Stanford Associate Professor of History) joins the podcast to discuss her career as well as her new biography Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023). We discuss the life of Milton Friedman including his very brief time in Chile, his intellectual development before and after joining the University of Chicago economics faculty, the role of various people who contributed to the development of his ideas behind the scenes, along with the extent of his influence nearly 20 years after his death. Jon Hartley is an economics researcher with interests in international macroeconomics, finance, and labor economics and is currently an economics PhD student at Stanford University. He is also currently a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a research associate at the Hoover Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Luke Froeb joins the podcast to talk about his career in economics, what it's like to be the chief economist at the FTC and DOJ antitrust division, how these agencies make decisions about merger cases, the history of the Chicago School consumer welfare standard and the types of analytical tools and modeling that underlies the approach, along with the rise of the New Brandeisians and their failures thus far. Jon Hartley is an economics researcher with interests in international macroeconomics, finance, and labor economics and is currently an economics PhD student at Stanford University. He is also currently a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a research associate at the Hoover Institution. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Glenn Hubbard (Former White House CEA Chair and Columbia Business School Professor) joins the podcast to discuss his career in academia and government along with his views on tax policy, including the legacy of the Bush tax cuts and corporate tax reforms, the optimal features of consumption taxes, the current path of government spending and public debt as well as the political economy issues underlying the recent rise of populism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest Andrew Olmem, former White House National Economic Council Deputy Director, discusses the CARES Act, inflation, and financial regulation. Topics include the state of banking regulation post Dodd-Frank, deposit insurance, and lender of last resort. They also touch on the challenges faced in repealing Dodd-Frank and the importance of diversity in banking systems.

DJ Nordquist (Former World Bank US Executive Director and Economic Innovation Group SVP) joins the podcast to discuss her experience serving as World Bank US Executive Director from 2019 to 2021 and as White House Council of Economic Advisers Chief-of-Staff, discussing topics ranging from China's graduation from being a World Bank aid recipient, COVID-19 World Bank/IMF fiscal aid, international corporate tax competition, and opportunity zones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tyler Cowen (George Mason University Economics Professor and Mercatus Center Director) joins the podcast to discuss his career, various long-run economic and political trends, whether policy or culture matters most for economic growth, whether schools of economic thought are still relevant, the state of economics education, the success of Marginal Revolution University as well as finding entrepreneurial talent through Emergent Ventures.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Rauh (Stanford GSB Finance Professor and Hoover Senior Fellow) joins the podcast to discuss his distinguished academic career, his research in public economics on taxes and public pensions, his time at the Trump Administration White House Council of Economic Advisors, the legacy of the CARES Act together with other COVID-19 era spending, and the future path of U.S. public debt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Simon Johnson (MIT Sloan Economics Professor and Former IMF Chief Economist) joins the podcast to discuss his new book "Power and Progress", co-authored with his MIT colleague Daron Acemoglu, on the interplay between technology, political economy, and economic development. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices