Free The Economy

This week we cover the housing abundance agenda, antitrust concerns about corporate climate alliances, the future of global nuclear power capacity, and the Supreme Court’s consideration of tax issues in Moore v. United States. Our interview this week is with Chelsea Follett, managing editor of Human​Progress​.org. We talk about her fascinating new book, Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World. Free the Economy is produced and hosted by Richard Morrison and edited and co-produced by Ryan Kracinski. 

This week we cover the political path toward abundance, the need for permitting reform beyond the National Environmental Policy Act, the Biden administration’s continuing assault on gas stoves, and what American workers think about their bosses. Our interview this week is with Travis Fisher, director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute. We talk about energy production myths, grid management, the view from inside the bureaucracy, next-generation nuclear, and what was really in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

This week we cover Javier Milei’s election as president of Argentina, how much money it takes to be happy, Thanksgiving lessons about property rights, and the new Competitive Enterprise Institute guide to the next big UN climate conference. Our interview this week is with Preston Cooper, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP). We talk about student loans, graduation rates, low-value majors, and how to make a college education more affordable for everyone. 

This week we cover the American Nuclear Society’s Winter 2023 conference, the opportunities and pitfalls of online side-hustles, and the complex task of measuring incomes and our fluctuating standard of living. Our interview this week is with author and Center for Growth and Opportunity senior research fellow Neil Chilson. We talk about emergent orders, complex systems, unintended consequences, and why government policymakers need to learn some humility. Free the Economy is produced and hosted by Richard Morrison and edited and co-produced by Ryan Kracinski. 

This week we cover how states can reform higher education, ways that managers can make their employees happier at work, the plans consumers have for holiday spending, and how environmental regulations get in the way of affordable housing. Our interview this week is with personal finance YouTuber Spencer Johnson. We talk about starting a side-hustle, household finances, credit cards that earn points and miles, and why we warn our audiences that what you’re about to hear is not financial advice. Free the Economy is produced and hosted by Richard Morrison and edited and co-produced by Ryan Kracinski.

This week we talk about which state has the least-bad business taxes, how many Americans really love America, the continuing trouble with ESG investing, and what Congress and the White House should do about AI. Our interview this week is with the National Taxpayer Union’s André Béliveau. We talk about economic freedom, political compromise, industrial policy, and state vs. federal policy reform. Free the Economy is produced by Scooter Schaefer, Phoebe Gersten, and Ryan Kracinski. 

This week we talk about the surprisingly low demand for free transit, the demographics of higher education, a primer on electrical grids, and a new poll of job applicants. Our interview this week is with American Enterprise Institute Distinguished Senior Fellow Karlyn Bowman. We talk about the attitudes of Americans toward capitalism vs. socialism, trust in government, waning concerns about Big Labor, the reliability of political polling, and why everyone cares so much about inflation. Free the Economy is produced by Scooter Schaefer, Phoebe Gersten, and Ryan Kracinski. 

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 is with American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Jim Pethokoukis. Our conversation covers the issues raised in Jim’s new book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised. That includes economic growth, Star Trek, scientific innovation, cultural attitudes toward risk, and government funding for basic research. 

This week we talk about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s legal fate, rising economic might in India, terrible federal policy on sugar, and how the rising cost of regulation is eliminating affordable homes and cars from the market. Our interview this week is with Competitive Enterprise Institute Research Fellow Sean Higgins. Our conversation covers the current United Auto Workers strike, the impact of the shift to electric vehicles, the future of the U.S. auto industry, and the history of federal labor regulation. 

This week we talk about commuting via bicycle, regulatory reform legislation from Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the new book on capitalism by historian Rainer Zitelmann, and a review of The Breakthrough Institute’s recent Ecomodernism 2023 conference. Our interview this week is with Commissioner Hester Peirce of the Securities and Exchange Commission, recorded earlier this year at the CEI Summit in Lake Tahoe. Our conversation covers financial regulation, climate change, principles of administrative law, and the SEC’s rulemaking on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.