Recent Podcast Episodes
Colonial America and the American Revolution
Albion’s Seed is a great book about the four migration folkways into the colonies from Great Britain during 1629 through 1775. The groups had many characteristics in common which may be what made future union possible, but the groups were also different. Puritans hated Quakers. Everybody hated Catholics. The competing regional cultures created quite a laissez-faire outcome between the community-based groups and more individualistic groups.
Lincoln and the Triumph of Mercantilism
Recorded at the Reassessing the Presidency seminar; March 2004. (33:49)
The Road to Liberty
Gene Callahan presents the Henry Hazlitt Memorial Lecture at the 2003 Austrian Scholars Conference.
The National Security State
The warfare state does not want peace, it wants war. Conducting a permanent war requires three things. There must be an underlying convincing belief that the war is worthwhile. Some interest groups need to stand to gain money or power. And, crises need to provoke reliable and ongoing responses. World peace is not desirable.
Hayek and the Common Law: An Assessment
Ronald Hamowy discusses Hayek and the Common Law: An Assessment at the 2002 Austrian Scholars Conference.
Banking and the Business Cycle
One of the most difficult things to understand about banking is how money is created out of thin air. Current commercial bank liabilities are immediate. The banks do not have the reserves to redeem all demand notes. Thus, banks are inherently insolvent. But, government has eliminated runs on banks. Banks are not allowed to fail when they are mismanaged.
The Sociology of Panics and Crashes in American History
Boom, Bust, and the Future (19:39) January 18-19, 2002
Austrian Theories of Interest
Robert Murphy explains the process of setting interest rates in a free economy. Recorded on 25 June 2003.
The History of Taxation
Charles Adams is a rare tax historian who leads us back to Greeks and Romans and the history of liberty. The Battle of Marathon was critical for Greek civilization to seize control of Western Civilization. The Greeks had no direct taxation, just indirect. This is what fostered liberty.
