Free Thoughts

A weekly show about politics and liberty, featuring conversations with top scholars, philosophers, historians, economists, and public policy experts. Hosted by Trevor Burrus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts

Eine durchschnittliche Folge dieses Podcasts dauert 51m. Bisher sind 478 Folge(n) erschienen. Dieser Podcast erscheint wöchentlich.

Gesamtlänge aller Episoden: 17 days 4 hours 46 minutes

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Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy


What qualifies as a sweatshop? Is there one standard definition? Why would someone choose to work in a sweatshop? What are their other alternatives? What happens when companies are made to pay their sweatshop workers more?

Benjamin Powell discusses the economics of sweatshop labor. He argues that the anti-sweatshop movement’s policies actually tend to harm the very workers they intend to help...


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 January 22, 2016  44m
 
 

Judicial Review in an Objective Legal System


Why is objectivity important when it comes to how judges decide cases? Tara A. Smith joins us this week to talk about what people mean when they say “We want judges to be objective and to uphold the law.”

We discuss the what, how, and why of judicial objectivity, first principles, the value of discretion among different government actors in a legal system, and we compare Smith’s theory of judicial review to other, competing theories...


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 January 15, 2016  58m
 
 

The Tyranny of Silence


This week we are joined by Flemming Rose, the editor who defended Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten’s printing of 12 cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in 2005. We talk about the tradition of religious satire in the Western world, the importance of free speech to pluralistic societies, and the dangers of censorship—even self-imposed censorship—on those societies...


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 January 8, 2016  57m
 
 

Intellectual Influences on Our 2015 Guests


The podcast guests we had in 2015 share some of their greatest intellectual influences and give book recommendations.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


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 January 1, 2016  1h16m
 
 

Politics and Principle in New Zealand


What’s it like running for elected office in New Zealand on a free market, limited government platform? How did the economic liberalization of New Zealand in the 1980s happen? What are the contemporary political issues of the day in New Zealand?

Show Notes and Further Reading

New Zealand consistently outranks the United States in the Fraser Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of the World report. 









 December 25, 2015  50m
 
 

The Politics of Star Wars


Does Star Wars have a distinct political viewpoint that we can tease out? Would the Rebel Alliance be considered a terrorist organization? How would we know if a rebellion was justified? Is the Star Wars story libertarian?

Show Notes and Further Reading

The original trilogy of Star Wars movies and the prequel trilogy of the late 90s/early 2000s will be joined by Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the day this podcast is released...


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 December 18, 2015  53m
 
 

What Are the Risks of Terrorism?


How did the effort to foil American terror plots change after 9/11? How are terrorists deterred from their goals?

John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart join us this week to talk about why our government needs to think realistically about combating terrorism.
 
Show Notes and Further Reading

Mueller and Stewart’s new book on how our post-9/11 government ends up chasing incredible terrorist threats, Chasing Ghosts: The Policing of Terrorism (2015)...


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 December 11, 2015  58m
 
 

Building a Better Government


If you started from scratch and wanted to build a government that preserved the free choices of its citizens as much as possible, and used force only in circumstances where it provided net benefits to all concerned parties, how would you do it? How long would its powers remain limited?

Richard A. Epstein joins us this week to discuss classical liberal statecraft, state cartels vs. private monopolies, inequality, and more...


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 December 4, 2015  1h5m
 
 

The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge


Matt Ridley joins us this week to discuss his latest book, The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge (2015). In it, he theorizes that much of the order we see in the natural world and in human culture and society is the result of unplanned, bottom-up, emergent evolution...


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 November 27, 2015  41m
 
 

Taking a Stand


The economic historian and economist Robert Higgs joins us to talk about his new book, Taking a Stand: Reflections on Life, Liberty, and the Economy (2015).

Show Notes and Further Reading

Higgs’s classic work on how government has grown, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (1987).

We also talk about Higgs’s Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American economy 1865-1914 (1977)...


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 November 20, 2015  1h3m