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Hayek Program Podcast

Hayek Program Podcast

By: Mercatus Center at George Mason University
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 The Hayek Program Podcast includes audio from lectures, interviews, and discussions of scholars and visitors from the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. The F. A. Hayek Program is devoted to the promotion of teaching and research on the institutional arrangements that are suitable for the support of free and prosperous societies. Implicit in this statement is the presumption that those arrangements are to some extent open to conscious selection, as well as the appreciation that the type of arrangements that are selected within a society can influence significantly the economic, political, and moral character of that society.All rights reserved Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Chandran Kukathas — 2023 Markets and Society Conference Keynote

    Chandran Kukathas — 2023 Markets and Society Conference Keynote
    Apr 15 2026

    On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Chandran Kukathas delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference arguing that an open society is best understood as a regime of toleration—one that can never be perfectly realized because every regime ultimately relies on power. He explores why toleration cannot be neatly limited by moral theory, why appeals to justice often beg the question, and how societies move closer to or further from openness depending on how they handle issues such as immigration and social integration. Along the way, he reflects on liberalism, pluralism, empire, and the challenge of sustaining a society open enough to accommodate different ways of life.

    Dr. Chandran Kukathas is Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Political Science at School of Social Sciences at Singapore Management University and a Distinguished Affiliated Fellow at the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center. He is the author of many books, including Dialogues on Immigration and the Open Society (Routledge, 2025), Immigration and Freedom (Princeton University Press, 2021), and The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory of Diversity and Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2007).

    **This episode was recorded on October 22, 2023**

    If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

    Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!

    Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

    Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    CC Music: Twisterium
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    43 mins
  • Senator Phil Gramm and Don Boudreaux on the Triumph of Economic Freedom

    Senator Phil Gramm and Don Boudreaux on the Triumph of Economic Freedom
    Apr 1 2026
    On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke talks with former U.S. Senator Phil Gramm and Don Boudreaux about their new book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom, a sweeping challenge to seven persistent myths about American capitalism. The conversation ranges from the Industrial Revolution and the Great Depression to the financial crisis. Along the way, they reflect on why these myths endure, why economic freedom has done more than any other force to improve the lives of ordinary people, and why economists and educators must keep returning to history and basic economic reasoning in an age when old policy errors are constantly resurrected in new forms.Dr. Gramm served six years in the U.S. House of Representatives and eighteen years in the U.S. Senate where he was Chairman of the Banking Committee. Gramm is a Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He was Vice Chairman of UBS Investment Bank and is now Vice Chairman of Lone Star Funds. He taught Economics at Texas A&M University and has published numerous articles and books including The Myth of American Inequality: How Government Biases Policy Debate (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024), coauthored with Robert Ekelund and John Early, a Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2022 and winner of the 2024 Hayek Book Prize.Dr. Boudreaux is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Professor of Economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University; an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute; and holds the Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center. He is the author of numerous books, including The Essential Hayek (Fraser Institute, 2015) and Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2007).Show Notes:Sven Beckert’s, Capitalism: A Global History (Penguin Press, 2025)Thomas Sowell’s, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles: Revised Edition (Basic Books, 2007)Adam Smith’s, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Liberty Fund, 1982)Milton and Rose Friedman’s, Free to Choose: A Personal Statement (Harper Collins Publishers, 1990)Fraser Institute | Realities of Socialism**This episode was recorded on February 25, 2026**If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatusCC Music: Twisterium
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    57 mins
  • David Schmidtz — 2024 Markets and Society Conference Keynote

    David Schmidtz — 2024 Markets and Society Conference Keynote
    Mar 18 2026

    **Content Warning** This episode includes discussions of sexual assault, which may be distressing for some listeners. Please listen with care.

    On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, David Schmidtz delivers a keynote lecture at the 2024 Markets & Society conference on the idea of self-governance. Drawing on examples from economics, moral philosophy, and higher education, Schmidtz argues that rational choice is less about optimization and more about choosing the frameworks within which decisions become meaningful. He examines the parallels between individual and corporate self-governance, the role of mission statements as “compasses” rather than formulas, and the dangers of over-specialization in academia. Along the way, he reflects on truth-seeking, academic freedom, moral education, and the human need for purposiveness, ultimately challenging universities to cultivate enduring capacities rather than narrow skill sets.

    Dr. David Schmidtz is Professor and Presidential Chair of Moral Science at West Virginia University’s Chambers College of Business & Economics, Distinguished Affiliated Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Editor-in-Chief of Social Philosophy & Policy. He has published numerous books, including Living Together: Inventing Moral Science (Oxford University Press, 2023), A Brief History of Liberty (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) coauthored with Jason Brennan, and his leading textbook Environmental Ethics What Really Matters, What Really Works (Oxford University Press, 2024) co-edited with Dan Shahar is now in its fourth edition.

    **This episode was recorded October 13, 2024.

    If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.

    Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!

    Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgram

    Follow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatus

    CC Music: Twisterium
    Show More Show Less
    42 mins
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