The Great Antidote
Juliette Sellgren
Recent Episodes
Erik Matson is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Deputy Director of the Adam Smith program. He recently released a new book, New Paternalism Meets Older Wisdom: Looking to Smith and Hume on Rationality, Welfare, and Behavioral Economics. Today we talk about paternalism, and how new paternalists differ from classic paternalists and how this arose. We talk about the difficultly of knowing one’s own preferences and how important freedom and choice are to the discovery of the good life and how to obtain it.
Never miss another AdamSmithWorks update.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Alice Temnick joins us today on The Great Antidote. She is an IB economics teacher at the United Nations International School in Manhattan and is an education consultant for Liberty Fund’s Adam Smith Works. We continue a previous conversation on Adam Smith, this time exploring his time at Glasgow and his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle Lettres, lectures from his time there. We talk about why he left the University and the ways that we as modern day learners benefit, but how it impacted his students at the time.
Never miss another AdamSmithWorks update.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Russell Sobel is a Professor of Economics and Entrepreneurship at the Baker school of Business at The Citadel and he just put out a new book with the Fraser Institute, The Essential Joseph Schumpeter. He has also written an introductory economics textbook and many, many papers on the economics of entrepreneurship.
Today, we talk about what an entrepreneur is, what institutions ---both cultural and governmental --- uplift entrepreneurs, and why we want more entrepreneurs. He explains the work of the economist Joseph Schumpeter, walking us through his views on entrepreneurship to his pessimistic view that capitalism necessarily ends in socialism. We talk about ways to prevent that, if indeed we are on that path.
Never miss another AdamSmithWorks update.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Byron Carson is an associate professor of economics and business at Hampton-Sydney College in Virginia. He is also the author of a recently published book, Challenging Malaria, which we talk about today. He explains to us what malaria is and the different ways that individuals and private interests responded to it before the invention of pesticides. We talk about why it is so difficult for larger groups to respond quickly and how individuals moving towards an emergency solution can align with societal interests. He gives examples of private malaria prevention action and private COVID prevention action, giving us insight into how we as members of our communities can solve problems held up by collective action.
Never miss another AdamSmithWorks update.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Matt Mitchell is a senior fellow in the Center for Economic Freedom at the Fraser Institute and senior research fellow at the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University .
Today, we talk about what socialism really means and what it meant for a country like Estonia, which was first occupied by Hitler and then Stalin. He tells us about what life under occupation was like and how Estonia broke away from socialism. Join us for stories of oppression, cultural resilience, and to hear what makes real the realities of socialism.
Never miss another AdamSmithWorks update.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.