The Human Progress Podcast

Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Carlos III University in Spain, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss long term trends in wellbeing, inequality, and freedom.

Travis Fisher, the director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent developments in U.S. energy and environmental policy.

Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst on Latin America at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the recent election of Javier Milei and what it means for the future of Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

Jack Solowey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute focusing on financial technology, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the potential benefits of cryptocurrency and the regulatory challenges it faces.

James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how we can reignite American optimism and build the sci-fi world we were promised.

Climate activism has a cult problem

David Ansara, the Chief Executive of the Free Market Foundation, a South African think tank, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss progress and problems in Africa. David Ansara has been Chief Executive at the FMF since 1 January 2023. He has 15 years’ experience working for think tanks, consultancies and trade associations. David was the Executive Director of the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) where he hosted the CRA’s YouTube Channel and the weekly podcast, Solutions with David Ansara. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, and a strong advocate for individual liberty and market-based approaches to public policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Cape Town. Learn more: https://www.freemarketfoundation.com/about-us-board-of-directors Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Erec Smith, a Professor of Rhetoric and the co-founder of Free Black Thought, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the problems with critical social justice and how we can pursue true empowerment through classical liberal ideas. Erec Smith is a Visiting Scholar of Politics and Society for the Cato Institute and an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania. Although he has eclectic scholarly interests, his primary work focuses on the rhetorics of anti‐​racist activism, theory, and pedagogy as well as the role of rhetoric in a free, pluralistic, and civil society. He is a co‐​founder of Free Black Thought, a nonprofit dedicated to highlighting viewpoint diversity within the black communities. Free Black Thought includes a compendium of black artists, writers, academics, and public intellectuals not discussed in mainstream media. The Organization also has a Journal of Free Black Thought, that publishes anything–from poetry to scholarly work—that discusses or displays a variety of viewpoints within the black diaspora. Smith is the author or A Critique of Anti‐​Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment (2020), a book in which he scrutinizes contemporary modes of anti‐​racism in his field. The book was conceived after Smiths observations of his field led him to conclude that anti‐​racist initiatives did more to disempower students and faculty than empower them. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/erec-smith Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

Todd Myers, a director at the Washington Policy Center, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology empowers individuals to protect the environment without the need for top-down government programs. With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd Myers’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. A former member of the executive team at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, he is a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council. Learn more: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/authors/detail/todd-myers Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Professor Todd Zywicki joins Chelsea Follett to discuss environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and the threat it poses to innovation, economic growth, and democracy.

Robert Wright, a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the history of slavery and the damage it does to society. Robert E. Wright is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of over two dozen major books, book series, and edited collections, including AIER’s The Best of Thomas Paine (2021) and Financial Exclusion (2019). He has also (co)authored numerous articles for important journals, including the American Economic Review, Business History Review, Independent Review, Journal of Private Enterprise, Review of Finance, and Southern Economic Review. Robert has taught business, economics, and policy courses at Augustana University, NYU’s Stern School of Business, Temple University, the University of Virginia, and elsewhere since taking his Ph.D. in History from SUNY Buffalo in 1997. Learn more: https://www.aier.org/people/robert-e-wright/ Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

The economist Stephen Barrows joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the intellectual history of population economics, the benefits of population growth, and what we can expect from a future of falling fertility.   Stephen Barrows, Chief Operating Officer, Acton Institute.  Prior to his role at the Acton Institute, Dr. Barrows served as the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean of Faculty of Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, MI) where he was also a tenured associate professor of economics. While at Aquinas, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in economics, and led a team of more than 85 full-time faculty, 150 part-time faculty, and 30 staff members serving more than 1,500 undergraduate and 150 graduate students. Dr. Barrows also served 21 years in the Air Force as an acquisition officer, an economics professor at the United States Air Force Academy and a faculty mentor at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. He retired from the Air Force in 2013, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A graduate with distinction of the Air Force Academy, Barrows has a bachelor of science degree in economics (1992), a master of arts degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University (1993), and a doctorate in economics from Auburn University (2002). He and his wife Kimberly (née Uddin) are the parents of three sons and two daughters.  Learn more: https://www.acton.org/about/staff/stephen-p-barrows-phd  Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.  Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Chris Barnard, the Vice President of External Affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent innovations in nuclear energy, the clean energy transition, and how markets can tackle environmental issues. Christopher Barnard is half-American, half-Belgian, and joined ACC after having spent the first 22 years of his life in Europe. Whilst living in England, he founded the UK version of ACC - the British Conservation Alliance, which quickly grew to become the largest environmental campus network in the country. During his time with BCA, he spoke at over 20 events and conferences in 10 countries and wrote regularly for the Daily Telegraph, CapX, Washington Examiner, etc. He also published the book Green Market Revolution, which he co-authored with a host of innovative environmental pro-market thinkers and scholars, and which has now been read in 91 countries around the world. He achieved this alongside completing a master's degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Learn more: https://www.acc.eco/staff Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human Progress .org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐ being by providing free empirical data on long‐ term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Will Duffield joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent advances in artificial intelligence, how they can improve our lives, and the challenges they may pose.   Will Duffield is a policy analyst in Cato's Center for Representative Government, where he studies speech and internet governance. He's also an expert on a host of related issues in technology policy. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/will-duffield

How did the modern dynamist economy of wealth and opportunity come about? Author and Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs Stephen Davies joins Chelsea Follett to discuss his book "The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity."

Economic historian Deirdre McCloskey speaks to HumanProgress editor Marian Tupy about economics, hierarchy, and how liberal ideas led to the modern world.

Since at least the 2016 U.S. presidential election, policymakers on the right and the left have lamented the plight of the "American Worker" and promised to fix it. Unfortunately the most common "pro-worker" policies today—heavy on government intervention in labor, trade, or other markets—suffer from critical flaws. They overlook the laundry list of current laws and regulations that distort markets, harm most American workers, and breed economic sclerosis. They ignore market-based solutions to boost workers' independence, mobility, wealth, resilience, and quality of life. And they are based on stereotypes that fundamentally misrepresent who today's "American Worker" really is. Recent trends in manufacturing, remote work, independent work, globalization, and other areas argue for a different kind of "pro-worker" policy—one that, instead of promoting a certain kind of worker, promising cradle-to-grave protection from disruption, or presuming that the employment and lifestyle trends of today will last beyond tomorrow, maximizes Americans' autonomy, mobility, and living standards. This book identifies what Cato Institute scholars believe to be the most important market-oriented policies to achieve these objectives, on issues like education, labor regulation, licensing, housing, healthcare, criminal justice, and consumer necessities. Each chapter identifies the problems facing American workers and suggests pro-market ways for federal, state, and local officials to fix them. Combined, these policies will give individuals the freedom and resources they need to be the "American worker" they want to be—not the one a few policymakers think they should be—and to be happier and more prosperous in the process. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/commentary/labor-day-better-policy-all-american-workers Scott Lincicome is the director of general economics and Cato’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. He writes on international and domestic economic issues, including international trade; subsidies and industrial policy; manufacturing and global supply chains; and economic dynamism. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/scott-lincicome Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Can Markets Protect Nature? Hannah Downey is the policy director at PERC, helping to bring free market solutions to environmental policy challenges. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The Salt Lake Tribune, and local papers. She holds degrees in economics and political science from Montana State University.  Learn more: https://www.perc.org/about-us/people/ Twitter: @handowney  Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.  Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Ukrainian lawyer and economist Maria Chaplia joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.  Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/maria-chaplia-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-25-transcript/ Maria mainly works in the field of trade, lifestyle regulations, and platform economy. Her research and writing have been featured in Daily Mail, The Independent, Financial Times, Der Spiegel, Huffington Post, Conservative Home, CapX, Spiked, Euractiv, The Parliament Magazine, Cato Institute, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and more. She is also a Fellow at 21Democracy.  Learn more:  https://www.21democracy.com/about/  https://www.mariachaplia.com Fundraiser link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/alexander-hammond-maria-chaplia-fundraiser-ukrainian-refugees Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.  Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Author and optimist Jason Feifer joins Chelsea Follett to discuss change, why we fear it, and how we can embrace it to build a better future. Build for Tomorrow on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Tomorrow-Embracing-Adapting-Future-Proofing/dp/059323538X Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the podcast Problem Solvers, which is about entrepreneurs solving unexpected problems in their business. Outside of Entrepreneur, he is the author of the book Build For Tomorrow, which is an action plan for embracing change and adapting fast, as the host of the podcast Build For Tomorrow (yes, same name as the book), which is about the smartest solutions to our most misunderstood problems. He writes a newsletter about how to find opportunity in change.  Learn more: https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/jason-feifer Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.  Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett