Ep. 8 David R. Henderson on Working in the Reagan Administration, Krugman’s Inflation Memo, and Publicly Challenging the Secretary of Defense
Economist David R. Henderson underwent a personal odyssey in his discovery of free-market economics. David tells Bob the story of his recruitment by Harold Demsetz, and how David ended up at UCLA during its glory days. The conversation turns to David’s time on the Council of Economic Advisors to Ronald Reagan, as well as David’s…
Ep. 7 Gödel Made Easy: Explaining One of the Most Important Mathematical Demonstrations of All Time
Mathematician Kurt Gödel in 1931 published his two famous “incompleteness theorems,” which showed the principled limits on the knowledge we could generate from formal axiomatic systems. Loosely speaking, Gödel showed that there exist true statements about numbers that we will never be able to prove are true. His results have been cited not just in mathematics…
Ep. 6 Steve Landsburg on Learning Economics From Friedman and Stigler
Steve Landsburg went to Chicago to do his graduate work in mathematics but was intrigued by the economics taught by Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Gary Becker, and other luminaries. We discuss the essence of Chicago price theory, the time when Steve was picketed by campus feminists, how Steve can climb aerial silks like Batman (while…
Ep. 5 Scott Horton on the Siege of Waco, the Perverse Logic of U.S. Foreign Policy, and How Trump Staved Off a Coup
Antiwar hero and all-around genius Scott Horton joins Bob for a lengthy discussion covering the siege and massacre at Waco, the motivations and perverse logic of the U.S. government’s interventions in the Middle East, and how Donald Trump staved off the establishment at the Republican convention and after the general election. Mentioned in the Episode:…
Ep. 4 A Conversation With Jeff Deist
In this episode, Bob talks to Mises Institute president Jeff Deist. They discuss Jeff’s original goal of being a professor, his time as an attorney, his work as Ron Paul’s Chief of Staff, and his insider knowledge of DC politics. Mentioned in the Episode: Website of the Mises Institute. The Denationalisation of…