Today’s podcast is from our 2016 public television documentary film, Ideas That Changed the Word, the second of a two-part series, The Real Adam Smith: A Personal Exploration by Johan Norberg. Adam Smith was a moral philosopher, a bold voice of the Scottish Enlightenment, the world’s first economist, and author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. But in today’s society, has the global economic system become so big and so complex that morality and human empathy are no longer relevant? Why are Smith’s ideas still significant today? Listen now to find out, and don’t forget to subscribe to get updates each week for the Free To Choose Media Podcast.

Adam Smith was a moral philosopher, a bold voice of the Scottish Enlightenment, the world’s first economist, and author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations. But in todays’ seemingly ruthless competitive environment, where the stakes are high, can ethical and honest businesses still prosper? How are Smith’s ideas about markets and morality relevant today? Today’s podcast is from our public television documentary film, Morality and Markets, the first of a two-part series, The Real Adam Smith: A Personal Exploration by Johan Norberg. Listen now.

In our 2009 documentary, The Power of the Poor, Hernando de Soto and his team of researchers found that an astonishing 98% of all businesses in Peru were extralegal, as was 88% of all rural property. Extralegals had constructed seven out of every ten buildings, had run almost all of its public transportation system, and built and owned the vast majority of Lima’s markets. It was clear the majority of Peru’s entrepreneurs had been locked out of the legal system. De Soto and his researchers at the Institute for Liberty and Democracy would risk their lives to let them in. Listen to their story on this week’s Free To Choose Media Podcast.

Somewhere on Earth, at this very minute, a child is beginning its journey through life. 250 babies are born every minute, 15 thousand an hour, 132 million a year – each and every year. Among them may be the potential to cure disease, or change the course of world history, because people are the world’s ultimate resource. Around the world, there are enormous and complicated challenges. But extraordinary change can happen when ordinary people have the tools and the freedom to make their own decisions. Free market incentives are spectacularly changing lives and entire economies over much of the world. In the last 25 years, hundreds of millions of people – 400 million in China alone – have climbed out of the dire poverty of living on less than $1 per day. It is the largest movement out of poverty in human history. Yet, two-thirds of the world’s population – four billion people – still do not have the tools to thrive in free markets. Forced to operate outside the rule of law, they have little education, no legal identity, no fungible property, no credit, no capital, and thus few ways to prosper. However, when given the incentives and the tools, these people are proving they can apply their free choice, intelligence, imagination, and spirit to dramatically advance their well-being and that of their families and communities. This week’s podcast is cut from our 2007 documentary, The Ultimate Resource, and looks at the “before and after” lives of individuals and families. It explores some of the surprising, innovative initiatives and trends at work in unlikely places around the world: Bangladesh, China, Estonia, Peru, and Ghana. The program features Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize; Hernando de Soto, founder of The Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru; James Tooley, British professor of education policy; and Johan Norberg, Free To Choose Media Executive Editor and Cato Senior Fellow. You can watch the full film here: www.freetochoosenetwork.org/programs/ultimate_resource/

While still in college, Barbara Branden, and her soon to be husband Nathaniel, began a relationship with Ayn Rand that lasted for almost two decades. They studied and discussed her ideas in depth and travelled the country speaking about Rand’s objectivist philosophy. The ideas were controversial and were not well accepted by the general public. In 1987 Bob Chitester sat down with Barbara to talk about the time she spent with Rand, creating a deeper understanding of Rand, her ideas and philosophy. This one-hour interview is a fascinating look into Rand’s life and her relationship with the Brandens.

Although recorded in the early 1990s, self-esteem was discussed as much then as it is today. Do you think it’s true that “…many, many groups that are the targets of prejudice and discrimination don’t show terrible low levels of self-esteem that a lot of psychological theory suggests they ought to have?” Listen in as Dr. Jennifer Crocker, former Professor of Psychology at SUNY-Buffalo, and Dr. Roy F. Baumeister, former E.B. Smith Professor in Liberal Arts at Case Western Reserve University, discuss surprising research findings on the methods people use to protect their self-esteem. The results may surprise you. Listen to this week’s Free To Choose Media Podcast, Maintaining Self-Esteem Against the Odds.

In 1993 three giants in the field of neural research got together to discuss their work and how it related to learning and memory. Dr. Timothy Tully, former Senior Staff Investigator at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Dr. Eric Kandel, 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology/Medicine, and the late Dr. Patricia Goldman-Rakic, Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine, spent time discussing their different research approaches and what they were discovering about how human beings learn, acquire new information, and hold on to it. From Pavlov to genetics, these scientists were opening new doors to understanding how our brains work. Listen to this week’s Free To Choose Media Podcast, Learning and Memory.

Larry Arnn, current President of Hillsdale College, met with his former teacher in 1999, the late distinguished fellow of the Claremont Institute, Harry Jaffa, to discuss his political philosophies. Jaffa believed the American Founders, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington, established the nation on political principles traceable from Locke to Aristotle. While he believed that governments are instituted to protect rights, he acknowledged the higher ends they serve, primarily happiness. Listen to this week’s Free To Choose Media Podcast, “Founders.”

When two giants in their respective fields get together for a casual conversation, what topics are on the agenda? Listen in as the late George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, and the late Nobel economist Gary Becker discuss the International Monetary Fund, America’s dependence on oil, micro-lending, demography, immigration, and drugs. The subjects are as relevant today as they were in this 2006 recording, “A Conversation with George P. Shultz and Gary Becker.”

The late George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, and the late Robert Conquest, former Stanford Research Fellow and noted Soviet researcher, shared anecdotes about their contacts and experiences with the Soviet Union. Both men were impressed with former Soviet President Gorbachev’s candor and intelligence. During a visit to Stanford to see Shultz, Gorbachev talked about an earthquake in Armenia that was of similar severity to one experienced by San Francisco and how all the buildings in Armenia had fallen down – not so in San Francisco. Gorbachev said, “… we can’t get people to build things according to the engineering specifications. That’s why our buildings fell down.” Listen in to learn more about their perspectives and experiences with the Soviet Union in “A Conversation with George P. Shultz and Robert Conquest.”