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This year’s Nobel Prize winners in economics are Acemoglu, Johnson, and Robinson, who wrote on the importance of inclusive institutions to economic growth. But what on earth are ‘inclusive institutions’ and how do they differ from exclusive ones?

Inclusive institutions are norms, either written or unwritten, about things like property rights, democracy, and the rule of law. But what other institutions are important to economic growth, if there are others?

Some of this year’s winners endorse a strong antitrust regime. How do you reconcile the importance of property rights to growth with a desire to limit and take down companies built upon those rights?

At the time this episode was recorded, everyone in economics was talking about the Nobel Prize, both this year’s winners and their research. But what other economists (and their work) should we be looking to?

Today, I am excited to welcome David Henderson back to the podcast. Henderson is the Wall Street Journal’s go-to writer when it comes to the Nobel in economics and an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School and a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His substack is titled I Blog to Differ, so go check it out! He answers questions just like these in our interview, so tune in to hear the answers!!

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Picture a policy conversation, perhaps in Washington, about national security. Who’s sitting around the table? It might be the President, national security advisors, military personnel, or generals, but not economists. And yet, national security is often used as a reason to intervene into the economy.

At the mention of national security, it seems economists often shut their mouths and run away (or hide under a rock, or something). But why? How should economists think about and engage with concerns about national security?

Today, the wonderful Sam Gregg joins us to talk to us about industrial policy and national security. He is the author of The Next American Economy and he is the Frederick Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research.

He explains how national security is often used as a justification for industrial policy, and how industrial policy actually harms both national security and economic strength. Join us to hear about the economic policy that improves national security!!

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How do you teach about a man who does not fit neatly into a box? Hayek is one such man, and today, we tackle the difficult task of putting him in a box. We conclude that we cannot put someone like F. A. Hayek into boxes such as “economist” or “philosopher” or “political theorist”, because he did it all. How and when do you teach the ideas of a man who did it all?

I’m excited to welcome Tawni Hunt Ferrarini to the podcast today to talk to us about teaching Hayek and his most important ideas. Ferrarini is a co-author of Common Sense Economics and an economic educator worldwide. We go through multiple ideas of in-class examples and places his thought could be applied in the context of modern education. Keep listening to hear me talk about how I, Pencil is scary.


Want to explore more?

• Explore the Common Sense Economics website.
• Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Real Life Economics: Rational or Complex, at EconTalk.
• Ryan Yonk on the China Dilemma, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Come explore Hayek with us in these two upcoming Online Programs led by Dr. Ferrarini:
  • A Timeless [asynchronous] discussion, October 28-November 3 in the LF Portal.
  • Dive Deep into Hayek's "Use of Knowledge in Society," a one session Virtual Reading Group, November 13th.

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