Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Human Progress Podcast

Americans have never been more aware of mental health. Therapy is more accessible, psychiatric diagnoses are more common, and the language of trauma and self-care has entered everyday life. Yet by many measures, mental health in America appears to be worsening.

In his new book, Therapy Nation: How America Got Hooked on Therapy and Why It’s Left Us More Anxious and Divided, psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert argues that the mental health profession may be partly responsible for that paradox.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, our research fellow Adam Omary speaks with Alpert about psychiatric overdiagnosis, the rise of therapy culture, the benefits and dangers of mental health labels, why therapy can sometimes backfire, and how a stronger sense of personal agency can help people become happier and more resilient.

The United States has spent decades trying to reduce poverty through an expanding social safety net. But how much of the country’s progress against poverty is thanks to that redistribution, and how much has come from economic growth?In a recent paper, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Kevin Corinth and economist Richard Burkhauser examine nearly a century of American poverty trends. They find that poverty was already falling rapidly before the War on Poverty began, when government transfers played a much smaller role and rising market incomes drove much of the improvement.In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, our research fellow Chelsea Follett speaks with Corinth about how we measure poverty, the relative roles of economic growth and redistribution in reducing it, the trade-offs created by the social safety net, the lessons of 1990s welfare reform, and why economic growth remains essential to lifting people out of poverty.

Our research fellow Chelsea Follett speaks with Walker Wright about the moral character of markets, the relationship between economic freedom and good behavior, the effects of commerce on prejudice and violence, and why buying and selling from one another may help make us better people.

Our editor Marian Tupy speaks with economist Brian Albrecht about the role of prices in modern prosperity.

They discuss why price controls fail, whether scarcity can ever truly disappear, the difference between large companies and monopolies, price discrimination, and the underappreciated ways in which competitive markets enrich our lives.

Dr. Brian C. Albrecht is the chief economist at the International Center for Law & Economics and author of the Economic Forces newsletter.

Our managing editor Chelsea Follett speaks with economist Michael Strain about the myth of American decline and the dangers of populism. They discuss the rise of populism on the left and right, the evidence that American living standards have improved, why inequality does not explain today’s political discontent, and how policies built on a false diagnosis of national failure could undermine the prosperity and opportunity they promise to restore.

The Gilded Age has become one of the most common analogies for our own time, invoked as shorthand for economic inequality and political corruption. But that comparison misses much of what made the period extraordinary. After the Civil War, the United States experienced an incredible period of economic growth that completely transformed American life and landscapes.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, economic historian Brian Domitrovic joins our managing editor Chelsea Follett to discuss why the conventional story of the Gilded Age is incomplete, how industrialization made ordinary Americans better off, and what we can learn from the triumphs of the Gilded Age.

The industrial food system is often treated as a symbol of everything people distrust about modernity: too processed, too corporate, too artificial, and too detached from land and labor.

That critique obscures one of the greatest achievements in human history: modern food production has made food cheaper, safer, more abundant, and more varied than ever before.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, Adam Omary speaks with political scientist Jan Dutkiewicz about his new book Feed the People: Why Industrial Food Is Good and How We Can Make It Even Better. They discuss the great achievements of the industrial food system, the panic over processed foods, nostalgia for preindustrial agriculture, and how to make food healthier and more sustainable without giving up the system that feeds us.

Roger Pielke Jr. joins Marian Tupy to discuss the latest climate research and how to think clearly about climate change.

Samuel Gregg joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the rise of a more interventionist economic consensus and the case for markets in modern America.

Check out his book, The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World.

Steven Pinker joins Marian Tupy to discuss the so-called "crisis of meaning," the decline of religion, and what can give life purpose in a modern, largely secular world.

Our editor Marian Tupy speaks with writer and policy scholar Brink Lindsey about his new book The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing.

They discuss why material abundance produces dissatisfaction, the decline of marriage and community, bureaucratic stagnation, and the cultural and institutional innovations needed to produce mass satisfaction without scarcity.

Environmentalists often claim that solving climate change requires scarcity: less energy, less consumption, and less economic growth.

Zion Lights, a former radical environmentalist, now argues the opposite—that energy abundance is necessary for both thriving human societies and environmental protection. Her latest book, Energy Is Life, tells the story of her journey from Extinction Rebellion activist to outspoken advocate for nuclear power.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, Zion Lights joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how modern environmentalism became fixated on scarcity, how nuclear power became so misunderstood, and why energy is essential to human wellbeing.

Johan Norberg examines the conditions that create human flourishing and why golden ages so often come to an end.

Buy his book, Peak Human.

Psychologist Chris Ferguson joins Adam Omary to discuss American mental health, cognitive biases, and the dangers of narrative overreach.

Buy his book, Catastrophe!: How Psychology Explains Why Good People Make Bad Situations Worse.Read his article on loneliness.

Scott Winship joins Marian Tupy to discuss how bad measurement choices distort the picture of poverty and inequality in the United States.

Yaron Brook joins Marian Tupy to discuss the pessimistic populism of the New Right.

Policy analyst Marcos Falcone joins Chelsea Follett to discuss Milei’s recent electoral success and the economic reforms he might pursue using this new political leverage.

Peter Boettke joins Marian Tupy to examine the institutional foundations of the modern world. Check out his book, The Historical Path to Liberty and Human Progress.

Sarah McLaughlin joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the rising influence of foreign authoritarian governments on college campuses.

Check out her book, Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech.

Please note that we recorded this interview before Kirk’s murder, so he is not mentioned, though we believe that event makes conversations like this one even more relevant.

Bryan Caplan joins Marian Tupy to discuss the relationship between formal education and innovation.

Check out his book, The Case against Education.

Psychology researcher Tim Lomas joins Chelsea Follett to explore surprising global trends in happiness, meaning, mental health, and more.

Economist Donald Boudreaux joins Marian Tupy to discuss important misconceptions about American economic history and why it’s crucial to set the record straight.

Learn more in his book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism.

Philosopher and author Maarten Boudry joins Chelsea Follett to examine the cultural and ideological roots of Western anti-Western sentiment.

Tyler Cowen joins Marian Tupy to discuss the New Right, the relationship between freedom and progress, and whether classical liberalism is equipped to meet today's political challenges.

Marian Tupy speaks with writer and political thinker Matt Johnson about historicism, progress, and how tribalism and the “desire for recognition” are testing the foundations of open societies.

Stephanie Murray joins Chelsea Follett to discuss discourse around falling birth rates, the tension between pro-natalism and classical liberal values, and how it might be resolved.

Scott Lincicome joins Marian Tupy to discuss how President Trump's trade policies will affect American prosperity, national security, government revenue, and industry.

Daniel Griswold, the former director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the true legacy of globalization.

Existential psychologist Clay Routledge joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how Americans think about the future, recent trends in mental health, the alleged "crisis of meaning," and how nostalgia can drive progress.

Jon Moynihan, a businessman, author, and life peer, joins Marian Tupy to discuss why economic growth matters and how the UK and other social democracies can avoid financial collapse, economic stagnation, and long-term deterioration in living standards.

John Early, a mathematical economist and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss popular misconceptions about inequality in the United States and the measurement errors behind them.

Daniel Waldenström, a professor of economics at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the decline of wealth and income inequality in the Western world.

Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the benefits of digital technologies as well as how we should think about the risks and problems they pose.

World-renowned historian and sociologist Rainer Zitelmann joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the ideas, attitudes, and policies that allowed Poland and Vietnam to escape poverty.

David Inserra, a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent attacks on free speech and how censorship can threaten progress.

Jennifer Schulp, the director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology and regulation are shaping the future of investment.

Jay Richards, a senior research fellow and center director at The Heritage foundation, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss why robots and artificial intelligence won't lead to widespread unemployment.

Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Carlos III University in Spain, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss long term trends in wellbeing, inequality, and freedom.

Travis Fisher, the director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent developments in U.S. energy and environmental policy.

Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst on Latin America at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the recent election of Javier Milei and what it means for the future of Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

Jack Solowey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute focusing on financial technology, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the potential benefits of cryptocurrency and the regulatory challenges it faces.

James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how we can reignite American optimism and build the sci-fi world we were promised.

Climate activism has a cult problem

David Ansara, the Chief Executive of the Free Market Foundation, a South African think tank, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss progress and problems in Africa.

David Ansara has been Chief Executive at the FMF since 1 January 2023. He has 15 years’ experience working for think tanks, consultancies and trade associations. David was the Executive Director of the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) where he hosted the CRA’s YouTube Channel and the weekly podcast, Solutions with David Ansara. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, and a strong advocate for individual liberty and market-based approaches to public policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Cape Town.

Learn more: https://www.freemarketfoundation.com/about-us-board-of-directors

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Erec Smith, a Professor of Rhetoric and the co-founder of Free Black Thought, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the problems with critical social justice and how we can pursue true empowerment through classical liberal ideas.
Erec Smith is a Visiting Scholar of Politics and Society for the Cato Institute and an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania. Although he has eclectic scholarly interests, his primary work focuses on the rhetorics of anti‐​racist activism, theory, and pedagogy as well as the role of rhetoric in a free, pluralistic, and civil society. He is a co‐​founder of Free Black Thought, a nonprofit dedicated to highlighting viewpoint diversity within the black communities. Free Black Thought includes a compendium of black artists, writers, academics, and public intellectuals not discussed in mainstream media. The Organization also has a Journal of Free Black Thought, that publishes anything–from poetry to scholarly work—that discusses or displays a variety of viewpoints within the black diaspora. Smith is the author or A Critique of Anti‐​Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment (2020), a book in which he scrutinizes contemporary modes of anti‐​racism in his field. The book was conceived after Smiths observations of his field led him to conclude that anti‐​racist initiatives did more to disempower students and faculty than empower them. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/erec-smith Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

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Todd Myers, a director at the Washington Policy Center, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology empowers individuals to protect the environment without the need for top-down government programs.

With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd Myers’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. A former member of the executive team at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, he is a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council. Learn more: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/authors/detail/todd-myers

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Professor Todd Zywicki joins Chelsea Follett to discuss environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and the threat it poses to innovation, economic growth, and democracy.

Robert Wright, a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the history of slavery and the damage it does to society.

Robert E. Wright is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of over two dozen major books, book series, and edited collections, including AIER’s The Best of Thomas Paine (2021) and Financial Exclusion (2019). He has also (co)authored numerous articles for important journals, including the American Economic Review, Business History Review, Independent Review, Journal of Private Enterprise, Review of Finance, and Southern Economic Review. Robert has taught business, economics, and policy courses at Augustana University, NYU’s Stern School of Business, Temple University, the University of Virginia, and elsewhere since taking his Ph.D. in History from SUNY Buffalo in 1997. Learn more: https://www.aier.org/people/robert-e-wright/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

The economist Stephen Barrows joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the intellectual history of population economics, the benefits of population growth, and what we can expect from a future of falling fertility.  

Stephen Barrows, Chief Operating Officer, Acton Institute. 

Prior to his role at the Acton Institute, Dr. Barrows served as the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean of Faculty of Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, MI) where he was also a tenured associate professor of economics. While at Aquinas, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in economics, and led a team of more than 85 full-time faculty, 150 part-time faculty, and 30 staff members serving more than 1,500 undergraduate and 150 graduate students. Dr. Barrows also served 21 years in the Air Force as an acquisition officer, an economics professor at the United States Air Force Academy and a faculty mentor at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. He retired from the Air Force in 2013, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A graduate with distinction of the Air Force Academy, Barrows has a bachelor of science degree in economics (1992), a master of arts degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University (1993), and a doctorate in economics from Auburn University (2002). He and his wife Kimberly (née Uddin) are the parents of three sons and two daughters. 

Learn more: https://www.acton.org/about/staff/stephen-p-barrows-phd 

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Chris Barnard, the Vice President of External Affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent innovations in nuclear energy, the clean energy transition, and how markets can tackle environmental issues.

Christopher Barnard is half-American, half-Belgian, and joined ACC after having spent the first 22 years of his life in Europe. Whilst living in England, he founded the UK version of ACC - the British Conservation Alliance, which quickly grew to become the largest environmental campus network in the country. During his time with BCA, he spoke at over 20 events and conferences in 10 countries and wrote regularly for the Daily Telegraph, CapX, Washington Examiner, etc. He also published the book Green Market Revolution, which he co-authored with a host of innovative environmental pro-market thinkers and scholars, and which has now been read in 91 countries around the world. He achieved this alongside completing a master's degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Learn more: https://www.acc.eco/staff

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human
Progress
.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐
being by providing free empirical data on long‐
term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett