Let People Prosper

Why is socialism gaining appeal while free enterprise has produced extraordinary prosperity?

John Tillman, author of The Political Vise and founder of Hall of Giants, joins me to discuss why socialist ideas can be so compelling, where free-market advocates have fallen short, and why defending capitalism requires more than statistics.

We explore political power, victimhood, entrepreneurship, identity, storytelling, and how to make a m...

Should politicians decide which American businesses succeed?

From Washington's ownership stake in Intel to tariffs, industrial subsidies, and proposed restrictions on diesel exports, the government is taking a larger role in directing economic decisions.

In This Week's Economy #185, economist Dr. Vance Ginn explains why these policies can raise costs, distort competition, and put taxpayers at risk. He explores the lessons of spontane...

Why has the American Dream become so expensive?

Akash Chougule, President of FREOPP, joins me to discuss Affording the American Dream and what it will take to expand opportunity and upward mobility.

We explore housing, healthcare, energy, child care, federal debt, and a central question: Should government help people pay higher prices, or remove the barriers making things expensive in the first place?

The conversation is ultimately ab...

From inflation and immigration to prescription drugs, diesel, and data centers, policymakers are reaching for new ways to control economic outcomes.

In TWE 184, I ask a more fundamental question: What caused the problem in the first place? We examine federal deficits, H-1B visas, Texas data centers, drug pricing, and energy through the common lens of scarcity, incentives, supply, and competition.

The lesson: good intentions don't gua...

Mark Moses, Senior Fellow at the California Policy Center and author of The Municipal Financial Crisis, joins me to discuss why local governments still face fiscal pressures and what taxpayers should know about government finances.

We explore municipal budgets, public pensions, balance sheets, AI, data centers, and whether governments lose focus on their essential responsibilities when their missions continually expand.

The central q...

Nearly $2 billion in Medicaid fraud-related and other recoveries should get our attention. So should CMS's estimate of $37.4 billion in improper Medicaid payments, although improper payments are not necessarily fraud.

But the bigger economic question is about incentives.

In this episode, I examine how federal Medicaid matching can affect state spending decisions, how complicated financing arrangements can encourage states to pursue a...

Is classical liberalism losing ground in America?

Duke University professor Dr. Michael Munger joins me to discuss constitutional government, public choice, tariffs, free trade, and the institutions underlying a free and prosperous society.

We explore why restraints on government matter even when they prevent our preferred political outcomes, how political incentives shape policy, what tariffs actually do, and why institutional &ldqu...

If the government sends you a check while everything around you gets more expensive, are you really better off?

This week, I break down inflation and wages, the Fed’s latest rate hike, President Trump’s proposed $5,000 dividend, Governor Abbott’s Texas affordability agenda, rising healthcare costs, and calls to slow AI.

The common question is simple: Are policymakers addressing what makes things expensive, or adding...

How much power should federal agencies have, and who should be accountable when they exercise it?

Ashley Baker, Executive Director of the Committee for Justice, joins me to discuss agency power, antitrust, the Supreme Court, regulatory compliance costs, and the constitutional limits on the administrative state.

We dig into Trump v. Slaughter, FTC authority, merger enforcement, regulatory barriers to competition, and why constitutiona...

Americans are losing faith in capitalism, but much of what gets blamed on free markets comes from government intervention.

In TWE 181, I explain why capitalism beats socialism through economic freedom, competition, prices, profit and loss, and decentralized decision-making. More government control won’t fix problems government helped create.

The strongest answer to socialism isn’t another slogan. Let people experience eco...

Adam Thierer returns to the Let People Prosper Show to discuss one of America's biggest economic and policy questions: Will we build the infrastructure and preserve the freedom needed to lead the AI revolution?

Adam is Resident Senior Fellow for Technology and Innovation at the R Street Institute and a leading advocate of permissionless innovation.

We discuss data-center restrictions, energy abundance, AI and jobs, competition with C...

Happy Labor Day! Today we recognize and honor the contributions of American workers. But it’s also worth remembering why work itself matters. Work helps us provide for ourselves and our families. But it’s about more than a paycheck. Work provides dignity, purpose, opportunity, and the satisfaction of creating something valuable.

Public policy can either make that work more rewarding or make it harder for Americans to get...

This is a special and personal episode of the Let People Prosper Show. I’m joined by my wife, Emily Ginn, a licensed Master Social Worker, certified life coach, entrepreneur, and host of the IVF This podcast.

We discuss our journey through infertility and IVF, how those experiences shaped our family, and why Emily turned a difficult chapter of our lives into a way to help other women.

We also talk about entrepreneurship, balanc...

Scarcity is part of life. But free people have an extraordinary ability to overcome it.

In TWE 179, I explain how free-market capitalism creates abundance through prices, entrepreneurship, competition, innovation, and human ingenuity.

From Julian Simon's famous wager to housing, energy, healthcare, AI, and data centers, the lesson is similar: controlling prices doesn't create more supply.

Capitalism doesn't eliminate scarcity or guara...

Tax cuts can strengthen incentives to work, save, invest, and build. But what happens when Washington cuts one tax while raising tariffs and continues spending beyond taxpayers’ means?

Dr. Adam Michel of the Cato Institute joins me to discuss why tax reform and spending restraint must go together. We examine tariffs, deficits, reconciliation, entitlement spending, business investment, and what a simpler, flatter, more pro-grow...

Scarcity is natural, but abundance can be created.

In this episode, I explain why free-market capitalism has been so effective at turning scarce resources into greater prosperity. From Julian Simon’s famous wager to housing, energy, healthcare, AI, and data centers, the same economic lesson keeps appearing: prices communicate scarcity, entrepreneurs respond to opportunity, and competition encourages people to produce more.

Mark...

The political left and right increasingly agree on one dangerous idea: Washington should direct more of the economy.

Industrial policy, tariffs, subsidies, and economic nationalism are being sold as ways to rebuild manufacturing, strengthen families, and make America more prosperous. But replacing market decisions with political direction does not create prosperity. It concentrates power, protects favored industries, and forces fami...

More than 274,000 Texas families applied for Education Freedom Accounts this year. Parents are sending policymakers a clear message: they want more choices for their children.

In this episode, I explain how Education Savings Accounts empower families, why funding should follow students, how competition can improve education while encouraging greater efficiency, and why states should lead instead of Washington.

Educational freedom isn...

Economics is often reduced to numbers and policy debates. But its deeper question is simple: How can people peacefully cooperate to improve their lives?

That is the focus of my latest conversation with Abigail R. Hall, professor of economics at the University of Tampa, Senior Fellow with the Independent Institute, and Senior Affiliated Scholar with the Mercatus Center.

Abby joined me to discuss her new book with , Austrian Economics:...