AIER President @DrSamuelGregg discusses social improvement and his new book, The Civilization of Commerce. "I firmly believe that free markets need to be seen as part of a broader civilizational enterprise, rather than something that is primarily focused upon delivering economic growth. Economic growth is important. You can’t have civilization, I think, without substantive economic growth over time. But an older generation of free-market thinkers and classical liberal thinkers, people like F.A. Hayek, but even going back further to people like Adam Smith, presented the idea of the market economy in more than just economic terms. In the case of Adam Smith, he saw this emerging commercial society of his time as a civilizational advance upon other forms of economic development, because it delivered what he called improvement. And improvement, he meant not just things like a better standard of living, less poverty, etc. He was also talking about the capacity of markets and commercial society to effectively usher in a world in which people, ordinary people, have many more opportunities to pursue what we call human happiness. Sometimes that’s associated with certain values. Sometimes it’s associated with a particular understanding of the virtues. But there’s no doubt in the minds of Scottish Enlightenment thinkers that this commercial society that was coming into being was not just about economic freedom. It was also about rule of law. It was also about things like property rights. It was also about things like constitutionally limited government. It was also about a set of norms and institutions that they thought were very important if you’re going to move away from a society in which most people live lives of backbreaking poverty, but also did not have much opportunity for things like education, for literature, for the higher things that makes life much more humane. So one of the things in my book, The Civilization of Commerce, it’s really tying this idea that commerce is more than just exchange. It’s more than just free enterprise. It’s more than just business. Those are all part of what it means to live in a market economy. But the vision that I think underpins and should drive a market economy is this civilizational sense of improvement. Improvement in the sense that more people have more opportunities to pursue happiness because they’re freer to do so, they have more resources to do so, they have more time to do so, and they have the ambition to do so." Buy it on Amazon - amazon.com/dp/1641775300

The $40 Trillion Question: Can America Escape Its Debt Trap? The government is spending more on interest payments than on national defense. How did America get here? And why do politicians keep spending more than they collect in taxes? On this episode of The Economist Next Door, host @DrPaulMueller is joined by AIER Research Fellow @thomas_savidge and Duke University professor @RichardSalsman3 to explore the political economy of government debt. They examine how excessive borrowing affects inflation, interest rates, affordability, and economic growth; why neither tariffs nor faster growth are likely to solve the problem on their own. The conversation also explores why both political parties have incentives to perpetuate deficits, whether bond markets can force fiscal discipline, and what reforms might help put government finances on a more sustainable path. Is a debt crisis inevitable, or can America change course before the costs become even harder to ignore?

Who really controls corporate America—the shareholders who own companies, or the executives and institutions managing their money? On this episode of The Economist Next Door, AIER's Paul Mueller is joined by Allen Mendenhall of The Heritage Foundation and Stephen Soukup of the State Financial Officers Foundation to examine the growing influence of stakeholder capitalism, ESG investing, and political activism in America's financial markets. From BlackRock's enormous influence over corporate decisions to the controversial use of public pension funds, the conversation explores how investment managers can pursue political agendas with money that isn't theirs. The discussion also challenges the promise of ESG investing: Does prioritizing environmental and social goals actually produce better outcomes, or does it undermine profitability, accountability, and shareholder rights? As more financial power becomes concentrated in fewer hands, one question becomes increasingly important: Who gets to decide how your money is used? Listen to the full episode here - aier.org/podcast/the-truth-a…

The tax code is written by the wealthy and the powerful. AIER's @Econ_Goggles says there's no getting around that. But some of those rules are features, and good ones. One example: you're not taxed on losses. If you were, it would squish anyone sticking their neck out to start a business. From The Economist Next Door, Ep. 15: "Do the Ultra-Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes?" with @DrPaulMueller, @thomas_savidge, and @Econ_Goggles. Listen to the full episode: aier.org/podcast/do-the-ultr…

One in five American adults are starting or running a new business. Most of those businesses will fail. The top earners we argue about are the rare exception. For every one who makes it, many more took the same risk and lost. @Econ_Goggles explains why the tax system shouldn't stifle that growth before it happens. From The Economist Next Door, Ep. 15: "Do the Ultra-Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes?" with @DrPaulMueller, @thomas_savidge, and @Econ_Goggles. Full episode: aier.org/podcast/do-the-ultr…

Who really controls corporate America—the shareholders who own companies, or the executives and institutions managing their money? On this episode of The Economist Next Door, AIER's @DrPaulMueller is joined by @allenmendenhall of @Heritage and @ThePolForum of the @SFOF_States to examine the growing influence of stakeholder capitalism, ESG investing, and political activism in America's financial markets. From BlackRock's enormous influence over corporate decisions to the controversial use of public pension funds, the conversation explores how investment managers can pursue political agendas with money that isn't theirs. The discussion also challenges the promise of ESG investing: Does prioritizing environmental and social goals actually produce better outcomes, or does it undermine profitability, accountability, and shareholder rights? As more financial power becomes concentrated in fewer hands, one question becomes increasingly important: Who gets to decide how your money is used? Listen to the full episode here - aier.org/podcast/the-truth-a…

Data centers are going up fast, and so are the claims about them. The real test isn't "good or bad." It's project by project: Will it cover the cost it creates? Does it create enough durable value to justify the trade-offs? If you create the cost, you should cover it. From AIER's webinar "The Data Center Boom: Power, Growth, and Who Pays" with @ryanyonk and @Dave_Hebert Watch the full webinar: youtu.be/Sx8lKoN8IMo

Here's What Radicalized Elon Who really controls corporate America—the shareholders who own companies, or the executives and institutions managing their money? On this episode of The Economist Next Door, AIER's @DrPaulMueller is joined by Allen Mendenhall (@allenmendenhall ) of The Heritage Foundation and Steve Soukup (@ThePolForum ) of the State Financial Officers Foundation to examine the growing influence of stakeholder capitalism, ESG investing, and political activism in America's financial markets. From BlackRock's enormous influence over corporate decisions to the controversial use of public pension funds, the conversation explores how investment managers can pursue political agendas with money that isn't theirs. The discussion also challenges the promise of ESG investing: Does prioritizing environmental and social goals actually produce better outcomes, or does it undermine profitability, accountability, and shareholder rights? As more financial power becomes concentrated in fewer hands, one question becomes increasingly important: Who gets to decide how your money is used? The Economist Next Door is brought to you by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), making complex economic ideas accessible. No PhD required.