The Great Antidote – Details, episodes & analysis

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The month of October 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of F. A. Hayek winning the Nobel Prize. Winning such a prize is obviously a big deal, but someone wins one every year, so what’s the big deal about this guy? 

Well. Hayek’s contributions to the field of economics are significant because they spoke to more than simply economics. Spontaneous order, price signals as information, and the pretense of knowledge all might come to mind, but they might not. (Maybe you’re new to this! If so, helloooo there!) These concepts branch into philosophy, social structure, and the nature of the human mind. Stick with us to learn the depths and beauty of Hayekian thought, in the first of this series!

Want to explore more?

• Profile in Liberty: Friedrich A. Hayek, at Econlib.
• Don Boudreaux on Reading Hayek, an EconTalk podcast.
• Elaine Sternberg, The Power and Pervasiveness of Spontaneous Order, at Econlib.
• Nicholas Wapshott on Keynes and Hayek, an EconTalk podcast.
• Hayek and Spontaneous Orders, at the Online Library of Liberty.

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 Do you ever take a moment to think about the fact that Americans, the people of the land of the free, spent 13 years under Prohibition? Did you know that Americans used to seriously “drink like a fish”? And no, I’m not talking about fraternity men in college. I’m talking about everyone, everywhere, from George Washington’s parties to lunchtimes in the manufacturing factories (until Henry Ford put a stop to it, you know, for efficiency purposes). Then Prohibition happened. 

What were the forces that drove Prohibition into existence? Our first and only constitutional amendment to be repealed, what was so severe about America under prohibition that it only lasted 13 years? How did a guy smuggle whiskey into America in an egg carton? 

All that and more on this episode with Wabash College Professor Nicholas Snow. Tune in! 


Want to explore more?

• Read John Alcorn's 2019 series on prohibition of all kinds at EconLog.
• Daniel Okrent on Prohibition and his Book, Last Call, an EconTalk podcast.
• Lysander Spooner, Vices are Not Crimes. A Vindication of Moral Liberty, at the Online Library of Liberty.
• Randy Simmons on Public Choice, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Sandra Peart on Ethical Quandaries and Politics Without Romance, a Great Antidote podcast.

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Sandra Peart is a Distinguished Professor of Leadership Studies and the President of the Jepson Scholars Foundation at the University of Richmond, as well as a coauthor of Towards an Economics of Natural Equals: A Documentary History of the Early Virginia School, with David Levy. She is also a distinguished fellow of the history of economics society.

Today we talk about the importance of humility in discussing important ideas in addition to the importance of asking the right questions, ethical questions. She leads us through the intellectual landscape of the 60s, post World War II, and the birth of the Virginia School of Economics, which was intent on asking important questions about humanity and the nature of equality. We talk about James Buchanan, Warren Nutter, Gordon Tullock, and their influences such as Adam Smith and Frank Knight. We talk about how public choice and experimental economics both critique and improve the field of economics.

Want to explore more?

• Sandra Peart and David Levy, The Secret History of the Dismal Science, a five part series at Econlib.
• Reassessing the Political Economy of John Stuart Mill, a Liberty Matters Forum at the Online Library of Liberty.
• Vernon Smith on Experimental Economics, the Nobel Prize, and Life, a Great Antidote podcast.
• Vernon Smith on Adam Smith and the Human Enterprise, an EconTalk podcast.
• Alexandra Hudson on The Soul of Civility, an EconTalk podcast.
• Peter Boettke on Mainline Economics, a Great Antidote podcast.

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Jon Murphy, recent PhD graduate from George Mason University and incoming instructor at Western Carolina University, talks to us today about Adam Smith’s theoretical and practical exceptions to free trade. We explore whether Smith would have endorsed The Jones Act through his endorsement of Britain’s Navigation Acts. 

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Weifeng Zhong, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks to us today about the distinction between misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda. He leads us through his story of discovering the Tiananmen Square Massacre and how it led to the Policy Change Index project. We talk about hopes and fears for the future, along with some differences between the United States and China. 

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Jason Fichtner, vice president and chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center, talks to us about retirement and saving strategies. He takes us through different types of savings accounts, why you should start saving today, and why you should start saving today. We also talk about starting to save later in life, how to save for and pay off big expenses, and social security considerations.

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Clark Neily, senior vice president of legal studies at the Cato Institute, talks to us about upcoming Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. We explore her unique qualifications and the hopes that this brings, amicus briefs and how they are filed, and her judicial philosophy. 

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Peter Van Doren is the editor of the quarterly journal Regulation and is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, where he specializes in housing, land, energy, and more. Today, he talks to us about what energy independence is, whether America is energy independent, and if that is a good thing. He also talks to us about energy more generally, including nuclear and green energy. 

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Daniel Klein, professor of economics at George Mason University and expert on Adam Smith, talks to us about Smith’s definition of justice. There are three types of justice: commutative, distributive, and estimative. Today we break down the differences between each and their applications in government and private life. 

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Walter Olson is the author of several books and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies. Today, we talk about the 2020 election and the increasing fears of election fraud. He talks to us about the different types of election fraud, the actual reality of election fraud, and voter suppression. 

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