Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast

François and Jennifer are joined by Peter Boettke, Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University (among other titles), to discuss his unique and influential teacher, Kenneth Boulding, the history of the Socialist Calculation Debate, and the possible significance of artificial intelligence for the future of political economy. 

The hosts meet with Harro Maas, Professor in the Walras-Pareto Centre for the History of Economic and Political Thought at the University of Lausanne, to discuss several of his contributions to the literature. 

In this month's episode, Jennifer, Çınla, and François interview Giandomenica Becchio, Professor in the Department of Economics, Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Statistics at the University of Torino, about her 2024 book Political Economy and Economics: Gender Equality and Classical Liberalism (Palgrave). 

François, Jenn, and Çınla speak with Jennifer Burns, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Admissions in the History Department at Stanford University, about her book Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative (2023). 

Çınla, François, and Jennifer are joined by Alexander Linsbichler, Senior Postdoc with the Institute of Philosophy and Scientific Method at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, and Lecturer of Philosophy and Economics at the University of Vienna, to discuss his work on rational reconstruction as a philosophical method, Austrian Economics, and the Vienna Circle of Logical Positivism. 

Jennifer, Çınla, and François talk with André Lapidus, Professor Emeritus of the History of Economic Thought in the Laboratoire PHARE at University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, regarding his work on David Hume, the history of ideas about usury, and economic historiography.   

The co-hosts are joined by Professor Sandra Peart to discuss her many and varied contributions to the history of economic thought. Professor Peart is Dean and E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies and President of the Jepson Scholars Foundation at the University of Richmond. She is also the most recently named Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society, which the Society confers on those who have contributed a lifetime of study to the history of economics. Topics include Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, James Buchanan, and, of course, her esteemed co-author, David Levy. 

Jennifer, François, and Çınla talk with Professor Kayoko Misaki, Professor of Economics at Shiga University in Hikone, Japan, about her recent book, Léon Walras’s Economic Thought: The General Equilibrium Theory in Historical Perspective. 

Çınla, François, and Jennifer discuss a number of recent additions to the literature. If you are interested in reading the papers discussed in this episode, here they are (unfortunately, some may be behind paywalls): Today’s economics: one, no one and one hundred thousand Angela Ambrosino, Mario Cedrini & John B. Davis Neither Populist nor Neoclassical: The Classical Roots of the Competition Principle in American Antitrust Law Nicola Giocoli Before NBER: Warren Nutter's Soviet Research at the CIA Daniel Kuehn

In another of our occasional early-career scholars episodes, Çınla, Jennifer, and François speak with Hannah Glasson and Dominic Walker, both currently fellows at Duke University's Center for the History of Political Economy, about their interests in the history of economic thought, experiences in graduate school, the academic job market, and their various research projects. 

In this month's episode of Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar, François, Çınla, and Jennifer sit down with Marcel Boumans, Past President of the History of Economics Society, and Professor of History of Economics and Head of Section of Applied Economics at Utrecht University School of Economics. Topics include Professor Boumans' work on the historiography of mathematical economics and the meaning of art for the history of economics. 

Jennifer, François, and Çınla are joined by Laetitia Lenel, Professor of Cultural History of the Economic in the Institute of History at the University of Duisburg-Essen, to discuss some of her recent work on the role of narratives in economics.

In this month's episode, Çınla, Jennifer, and François speak with Professor Cheryl Misak, University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, Fellow of the Canadian Royal Society, and Guggenheim Fellow, about Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, her highly regarded biography of the influential mathematician, philosopher, and economist. Other topics include Professor Misak's work on Charles Sanders Peirce and the pragmatist tradition at the University of Cambridge. 

François, Çınla, and Jennifer interview Till Düppe, Professor of Economics at Université du Québec à Montréal, about his work on lived epistemology, Gérard Debreu, Sidney Weintraub, and other topics.  

Çınla and Jenn chat with Helen McCabe, Associate Professor in Political Theory at the University of Nottingham, about John Stuart Mill and his attitude(s) toward socialism. Professor McCabe is author of John Stuart Mill, Socialist, published in 2021 by McGill-Queen's University Press. 

Jennifer, Çınla, and François are joined by Spencer Banzhaf, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Environmental & Resource Economic Policy at North Carolina State University, to discuss the history of environmental economics and, especially, his new book Pricing the Priceless: A History of Environmental Economics.

Çınla and François are joined by Kseniia Lopukh, Associate Professor of Economics at National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, to discuss her work on the famous Ukrainian economist, Mikhail Tugan-Baranovsky, as well as the economic history of, and history of economic thought in, Ukraine.

François, Jennifer, and Çınla chat with George Tavlas about his new book The Monetarists: The Making of the Chicago Monetary Tradition, 1927–1960. 

Çınla, François, and Jennifer discuss a number of recent additions to the literature. If you are interested in reading the papers discussed in this episode, here they are (unfortunately, some may be behind paywalls): Macroeconomics under pressure: the feedback effects of economic expertise by Matthieu Renault Thorstein Veblen and Socialism by Geoffrey M. Hodgson Ukrainian Financial Reforms in 1917-1922 by Kseniia Lopukh

François, Jennifer, and Çinla chat with former Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar co-host Scott Scheall about his work on the methodology of the Austrian School of economics and the problem of policymaker ignorance. Scott's new book, Dialogues concerning Natural Politics, is available for free on his Substack page, The Problem of Policymaker Ignorance, where you can also find his new podcast, The Week in Policymaker Ignorance.