The Economist Next Door
The Economist Next Door with host Paul Muller is AIER's newest podcast. It's a plain-spoken guide that makes complex ideas accessible to the "everyman" and "everywoman." No PhD required. In place of partisan spin, we're offering honest analysis and an optimistic spirit and translating academic concepts into clear conversations. Paul Mueller is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He received his PhD in economics from George Mason University. Previously, Dr. Mueller taught at The King's College in New York City. He has published widely in both academic and popular publications.
Episodes
What is post-liberalism, and why has it gained influence on the American right?
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller speaks with James M. Patterson and Thomas D. Howes, authors of Why Post-Liberalism Failed. They explore the intellectual roots of post-liberalism and its connections to Catholic integralism and European reactionary thought.
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Why is housing so expensive in America? On this episode of The Economist Next Door, Paul Mueller sits down with AIER scholars Julia Cartwright and Jason Sorens to unravel the mystery behind America's housing crisis.
They explore how supply and demand, zoning restrictions, building regulations, local "busybodies," and federal housing policies have combined to make housing increasingl...
Before 1953, almost nobody called themselves a "conservative." In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller sits down with Jeff Nelson, director of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, at Kirk's historic home in Mecosta, Michigan. They explore how Russell Kirk's landmark book The Conservative Mind gave shape and name to a tradition that stretched back through the Founding, examine Kirk's friendships a...
What happens when a political movement abandons ideas for power? Stephanie Slade, senior editor at Reason and author of Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, joins Paul Mueller to discuss the conservative philosophy that shaped the twentieth century—and why it is now under attack.
They explore the Fusionist tradition, the relationship between liberty and virtue, the rise of...
What makes an entrepreneur? Is it the ability to disrupt entire industries, as Joseph Schumpeter argued, or the alertness to spot opportunities others overlook, as Israel Kirzner emphasized?
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, Paul Mueller, Pete Earle, and Jeff Degner explore the Austrian School's distinctive theory of entrepreneurship. They discuss creative destruction, ent...
Paul Mueller and David Kotter examine one of today's most debated policy proposals: Universal Basic Income (UBI).
As advances in artificial intelligence reshape the economy, some argue that unprecedented productivity could make work optional. But what would that mean for the social safety net, individual responsibility, and ...
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, we dive into the gap between headline inflation num...
What happens when families, churches, neighborhoods, and civic institutions begin to disappear?
Economist Paul Mueller and political philosopher Luke Sheahan explore the ideas of Robert Nisbet, the overlooked thinker who warned that people deprived of meaningful community would drift toward loneliness, despair, or political fanaticism. From ancient Rome to the modern welfare state, this episode of The Economist Next Door examines w...
Social Security is facing a serious financial crisis. By 2032, the program's trust fund is projected to be depleted, triggering automatic benefit reductions unless Congress acts. But the problem runs deeper than a looming funding shortfall. Social Security was built for a different era—one with more workers supporting fewer retirees and shorter retirement periods.
In this epis...
Recessions are often explained as the inevitable result of excess: too much borrowing, too much speculation, too much optimism, or some hidden imbalance waiting to be corrected. But what if that story is wrong?
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller talks with Tyler Goodspeed, chief economist at ExxonMobil and author of Recession: The Real Reasons Economies Sh...
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant technology of the future—it is already reshaping how people work, learn, create, and solve problems.
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, Paul Mueller explores the practical and philosophical questions surrounding AI with three guests — Jacob Mueller, co-founder of short-term rental management company Renjoy; Nicholas...
Artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of productivity, jobs, and economic growth. But the deeper question is a human one: Will AI help us become more fully human?
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, Dr. Paul Mueller brings together three guests to examine AI from different angles. They discuss how entrepreneurs, programmers, and educators are using AI today&mda...
As America approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, host Paul Mueller sits down with historian Brad Birzer to explore the ideas that gave birth to the American experiment. Together, they examine what made the Declaration such a revolutionary document, why its principles remain relevant nearly two and a half centuries later, and the radical claim at its heart: that all people are ...
Host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER scholars Tom Savidge and Dave Hebert to discuss one of the most intriguing and controversial provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill: Trump Accounts. The program would provide government-seeded investment accounts for children, with supporters arguing that it could expand ownership, encourage long-term wealth building, and foster a stronger culture of saving and...
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, Paul Mueller is joined by fellow American Institute for Economic Research scholars Jeff Degner and Dave Hebert to examine the economics behind America's student debt crisis.
The conversation explores how decades of federal aid and subsidized student loans helped fuel tuition inflation, reshape university incentives, and transform higher ed...
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller joins scholars Pete Earle and Jeffery Degner to explore why socialism continues to hold intellectual and popular appeal despite a long record of practical failure. The conversation examines the emotional and moral narratives that sustain socialist ideas, from claims about fairness and control to dissatisf...
In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER colleagues Tom Savidge and Julia Cartwright to examine one of the most persistent claims in American politics: that billionaires pay little or nothing in federal taxes whi...
What is the Austrian school of economics—and why does it still shape debates about markets, money, and government today? In this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by economists Pete Earle and Jeff Degner to break down one of the most influential&mdas...
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