Hayek Program Podcast

Perspectives on Peace – From Milorg to El Salvador: Kenneth Boulding’s Lessons on War and Peace

On this episode, Chris Coyne speaks with Brigitta Jones, Nathan Goodman, and Karla Segovia about Kenneth Boulding’s insights on war, peace, and the political economy of conflict applied to contemporary questions about military organization and the dynamics of civil conflict. First, Jones discusses her coauthored paper with Coyne, “The Political Economy of Milorg [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/journal-articles/political-economy-milorg],” which uses Boulding’s concept of Milorg to examine the entanglement of public agencies and private firms in the military sector. She highlights how knowledge problems, incentives, and political processes shape what the military produces and how those decisions affect the broader economy. Goodman and Segovia then join Coyne to discuss their paper, “Unstable Peace in El Salvador [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/journal-articles/unstable-peace-el-salvador],” coauthored with Abby Hall. Drawing on Boulding’s framework, they examine how shifting expectations, beliefs, and “taboo lines” eroded the country’s fragile peace, highlighting how strains such as land concentration, poverty, repression, and escalating violence contributed to the outbreak of civil war. Together, these conversations illustrate how Boulding’s insights illuminate both the functioning of the modern military-industrial landscape and the complex processes through which societies move between peace and war. This is the third episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/2025-v1-i2] of the Markets & Society Journal [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/journal] or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics [https://link.springer.com/journal/11138]. Brigitta Jones [https://www.mercatus.org/students/fellows/brigitta-jones] is a PhD student in Economics at George Mason University. Her research interests include the welfare state of the United States. Dr. Nathan P. Goodman [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/scholars/nathan-goodman] is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. His research broadly focuses on political economy, public choice, market process economics, New Institutional Economics, and defense economics. Dr. Karla Segovia [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/scholars/karla-segovia] is a program manager for Research & Programs and a Research Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where she works on the Markets & Society conference and journal. She is also an adjunct professor at Northern Virginia Community College. Show Notes: * Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace [https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292764484/] (University of Texas Press, 1978) * Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society [https://press.umich.edu/Books/I/Image] (University of Michigan Press, 1956). * U.S. Congressional Testimony by Kenneth Boulding (1969) [https://www.jec.senate.gov/reports/91st%20Congress/The%20Military%20Budget%20and%20National%20Economic%20Priorities%20Part%20I%20(454).pdf] **This episode was recorded October 27, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/virtual-sentiments] is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program [https://twitter.com/hayekprogram] on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center [https://twitter.com/mercatus] on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium

Inside the Moral and Political Economy Program at Johns Hopkins University with Burgin, Halliday, and Liu

On this episode, Peter Boettke chats with Angus Burgin, Simon Halliday, and Glory Liu to explore their innovative work at the Center for Economy and Society and the creation of a new undergraduate program in Moral and Political Economy. They dive into the revival of political economy as a cross-disciplinary field, the pedagogical innovations shaping the next generation of thinkers, the coming 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and more. Dr. Angus Burgin [https://history.jhu.edu/directory/angus-burgin/] is Associate Professor of History and Founding Director of the Program in Moral and Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University. He serves as Co-Executive Editor of the book series, Intellectual History of the Modern Age, and he is the author of The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674503762] (Harvard University Press, 2015). Dr. Simon Halliday [http://simondhalliday.com/aboutme/] is Associate Research Professor and Associate Director in the Center for Economy and Society at Johns Hopkins University. He is the co-author (with Sam Bowles) of an intermediate microeconomics textbook, Microeconomics: Competition, Conflict and Coordination [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/microeconomics-9780198843207?cc=us&lang=en&] (Oxford University Press, 2022). Dr. Glory Liu [https://www.gloryliu.com/about] is Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. She is the author of Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher became an Icon of American Capitalism [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691203812/adam-smiths-america?srsltid=AfmBOorF6MTMGNbH_W4Zsk_CPTEHd-iJ_hyhqYSP651Lm8CNnN_ImfCb] (Princeton University Press, 2022). Show Notes: * John Hopkins University’s BA in Moral + Political Economy [https://snfagora.jhu.edu/curricular-programs/ba-in-moral-political-economy/] * Core Econ [https://www.core-econ.org/] * Adam Smith’s book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations [https://about.libertyfund.org/books/an-inquiry-into-the-nature-and-causes-of-the-wealth-of-nations-2-volume-bundle/] (Liberty Fund, 1982) * Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s book, Women and Economics [https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/gilman/economics/economics.html] (Small, Maynard & Company, 1898) * Tim Rogan’s book, The Moral Economists: R. H. Tawney, Karl Polanyi, E. P. Thompson, and the Critique of Capitalism [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691173009/the-moral-economists?srsltid=AfmBOor9KXfB54FAOMIdKAD1wTZtJ0xZuMVgr_B-uCJlLv-DDk79wDO_] (Princeton University Press, 2018) * Warren Samuels’ paper, “Adam Smith and the Economy as a System of Power [https://www.jstor.org/stable/29768691]” **This episode was recorded October 30, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/virtual-sentiments] is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program [https://twitter.com/hayekprogram] on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center [https://twitter.com/mercatus] on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium

Perspectives on Peace — Kenneth Boulding and the Everyday Practice of Peace

On this episode, Chris Coyne speaks with Michael Romero, Mikayla Novak, and Anna Claire Flowers about the enduring influence of Kenneth Boulding on how we understand peace and cooperation. Romero discusses his paper “Markets as a Peace Lab [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/journal-articles/markets-peace-lab],” coauthored with Virgil Storr, which explains how markets act as spaces where individuals cultivate trust, empathy, and peaceful exchange. Novak joins to discuss her paper “Kenneth Boulding’s The Image: A Cognitive Basis for Peace Entrepreneurship [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/journal-articles/kenneth-bouldings-image-cognitive-basis-peace],” connecting Boulding’s insights on human cognition to the creative work of fostering peace. In the final part of the episode, Coyne and Flowers reflect on their coauthored paper “The Family and the Stable Peace [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/journal-articles/family-and-stable-peace],” highlighting how the family serves as a training ground for the habits and relationships that sustain cooperation. Together, these conversations show how Boulding’s vision of peace continues to shape research on economics, society, and human flourishing. This is the second episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/2025-v1-i2] of the Markets & Society Journal [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/journal] or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics [https://link.springer.com/journal/11138]. Dr. Michael R. Romero [https://michaelromero.org/] is Professor of Economics and Business at Thales College. Previously, he was an associate program director for Academic & Student Programs and a Research Fellow for the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is an alum of the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Dr. Mikayla Novak [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/scholars/mikayla-novak] is a Senior Fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She is a contributing editorial board member of Cosmos + Taxis and recently was the editor of Liberal Emancipation: Explorations in Political and Social Economy [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/books/liberal-emancipation-explorations-political-and-social-economy] (Springer Nature, 2025). Anna Claire Flowers [https://www.mercatus.org/students/fellows/anna-claire-flowers] is a PhD student in Economics at George Mason University and is currently a fellow in the Mercatus PhD Fellowship. Her research interests include family economics, in particular the economic significance of family relationships and the economic factors that influence family decision-making. Show Notes: * Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace [https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292764484/] (University of Texas Press, 1978) * Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society [https://press.umich.edu/Books/I/Image] (University of Michigan Press, 1956). * Elise Boulding’s book, Cultures of Peace [https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/1311/cultures-of-peace/] (Syracuse University Press, 2000) * Learning for Peace Initiative [https://www.unicef.org/topics/learning-peace] | United Nations Children’s Fund * The Review of Austrian Economics [https://link.springer.com/journal/11138] * F.A. Hayek’s book, The Sensory Order: An Inquiry into the Foundations of Theoretical Psychology [https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo8930377.html] (The University of Chicago Press, 1952) * Gerald P. O’Driscoll and Mario Rizzo’s book, The Economics of Time and Ignorance [https://www.routledge.com/The-Economics-of-Time-and-Ignorance-With-a-New-Introduction/ODriscollJnr-Rizzo/p/book/9780415121200] (Routledge, 1996) * Israel Kirzner’s book, The Meaning of the Market Process: Essays in the Development of Modern Austrian Economics [https://www.routledge.com/The-Meaning-of-the-Market-Process-Essays-in-the-Development-of-Modern-Austrian-Economics/Kirzner/p/book/9780415137386] (Routledge, 1992) If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/virtual-sentiments] is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program [https://twitter.com/hayekprogram] on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center [https://twitter.com/mercatus] on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium

Nina Bandelj — 2023 Markets and Society Conference Keynote

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Nina Bandelj delivers a keynote lecture at the 2023 Markets & Society conference on the social life of money for children. Drawing on research about what she calls the “parenting economy,” she shows that parents increasingly treat children as human capital investments, using savings plans, loans, and educational spending to secure their futures. Bandelj argues that the financialization of family life reflects parental pressures and social inequality, calling for children to be seen as a shared public responsibility rather than private investments. Dr. Nina Bandelj [https://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=5053] is Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Irvine and the President of the Sociological Research Association. Her articles have been published in top discipline and specialty journals such as the American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Social Forces, Theory and Society, and Socio-Economic Review. She has published various books, including Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691270043/overinvested?srsltid=AfmBOopStbQYLNXb0BFs5qYj22nlwvxUsWeEVo5qYAyZcEbtFOjaxrpK] (Princeton University Press, forthcoming), Money Talks: Explaining How Money Really Works [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691168685/money-talks?srsltid=AfmBOop0w9JSUEoD5xV2qD_7LK2teYiP1CAxHq3aKD9v4oJBCc1sBy8r] (Princeton University Press, 2017) coauthored with Frederick Wherry and Viviana Zelizer), and Socialism Vanquished, Socialism Challenged: Eastern Europe and China, 1989-2009 [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/socialism-vanquished-socialism-challenged-9780199895960?cc=us&lang=en&] (Oxford university Press, 2012) coedited with Dorothy Solinger. **This lecture was recorded October 22, 2023 at the second annual Markets & Society conference. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/virtual-sentiments] is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program [https://twitter.com/hayekprogram] on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center [https://twitter.com/mercatus] on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium

Perspectives on Peace — Peter Boettke on the Life and Legacy of Kenneth E. Boulding

On this episode, Chris Coyne and Peter Boettke explore the life and legacy of economist Kenneth E. Boulding, Boettke's former professor and mentor. Boettke recalls his experiences in Boulding's Great Books in Economics course and their conversations outside of class about peace, economics, and poetry. The conversation outlines Boulding’s path from studying chemistry at Oxford and an unusually early publication in the Economic Journal to his formative time in Chicago with Frank Knight and his later academic years. Coyne and Boettke discuss why no “Boulding school” emerged, how Boulding's ideas can and are still inspiring new research on institutions, civil society, and peace, and more. This is the first episode in a short series of episodes that will feature a collection of authors who contributed to the volume 1, issue 2 [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/2025-v1-i2] of the Markets & Society Journal [https://www.marketsandsociety.org/journal] or to a forthcoming special issue from The Review of Austrian Economics [https://link.springer.com/journal/11138]. Dr. Peter J. Boettke [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/scholars/peter-j-boettke] is Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University. He has published numerous books, including The Historical Path to Liberty and Human Progress [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/books/historical-path-liberty-and-human-progress] (Universidad Francisco Marroquín Press, 2025) coauthored with Rosolino Candela, The Socialist Calculation Debate: Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/books/socialist-calculation-debate-theory-history-and-contemporary-relevance] (Cambridge University Press, 2024) coauthored with Rosolino Candela and Tegan Truitt, and The Struggle for a Better World [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/research/books/struggle-better-world] (Mercatus Center, 2021). Show Notes: * Kenneth Boulding’s article, “After Samuelson, Who needs Smith? [https://read.dukeupress.edu/hope/article-abstract/3/2/225/12381/After-Samuelson-Who-Needs-Adam-Smith]” (History of Political Economy, 1971) * James Buchanan’s article, “What Should Economists Do? [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1055931]” (SEJ, 1964) * Frank Knight’s article, “The Theory of Investment Once More: Mr. Boulding and the Austrians [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1882342]” (QJE, 1935) * Kenneth Boulding’s book, The Image [https://press.umich.edu/Books/I/Image] (University of Michigan Press, 1969) * Kenneth Boulding's AEA address, "Economics as a Moral Science [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1811088]" (The American Economic Review, 1969) * Kenneth Boulding’s book, Stable Peace [https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292764484/] (University of Texas Press, 1978) * Kenneth Boulding’s book, Three Faces of Power [https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/three-faces-of-power/book2874] (SAGE Publications, 1990) * Albert Hirschman’s book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States [https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674276604] (Harvard University Press, 1972) * Raghuram Rajan’s book, The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566369/the-third-pillar-by-raghuram-rajan/#:~:text=Raghuram%20Rajan%20is%20the%20Katherine,best%20business%20book%20in%202010.] (Penguin Press, 2020) * Center for Research on Conflict Resolution * Journal of Conflict Resolution **This episode was recorded September 10, 2025. If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments [https://www.mercatus.org/hayekprogram/virtual-sentiments] is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today! Follow the Hayek Program [https://twitter.com/hayekprogram] on Twitter: @HayekProgram Follow the Mercatus Center [https://twitter.com/mercatus] on Twitter: @mercatus CC Music: Twisterium