The Great Antidote
Episodes
The Story of The Great Antidote: A Conversation with Veronique de Rugy
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this final episode of The Great Antidote, I sit down with my mom, Veronique de Rugy (does this feel like a Mr. Big name reveal for so...
How Definitions Change Debates: Freedom, Rights, and Equality with Rebecca Lowe
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPhilosopher Rebecca Lowe (Mercatus Center) joins me to do an ideas-only deep dive: what freedom really is, why it matters, how it inters...
Innovation on Trial: Jack Nicastro on Empower’s Fight to Exist
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhy is D.C. trying to shut down a rideshare app that pays drivers more and charges riders less? Jack Nicastro of Reason joins to unpack ...
Tech Panic, Then and Now: Judge Glock on AI, Regulation, and Real Harms
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIs tech panic new—or just history on repeat? Judge Glock (Manhattan Institute) walks through what past tech scares (lead gasoline, CFC...
Why Markets Run on Trust: Tawni Ferrarini on Honesty, Reputation, and Decentralization in the Information Age
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMarkets don’t work without trust. Tawni Ferrarini joins Juliette Sellgren to explore how honesty and reputation make exchange possible...
Is China Really a Threat? Derek Scissors on China’s Economic Reality
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAEI Economist Derek Scissors joins Juliette Sellgren to unpack the reality of China’s economy, U.S.–China relations, and whether Chi...
Empowering the Next Generation: Economics Olympiad & Common Sense Economics
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week, Juliette Sellgren sits down with Martina Bacik, the 21-year-old founder of the Economics Olympiad that has grown to 120,000 s...
Why Freedom Matters: Tom Palmer on Authoritarianism and January 6th
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhy does freedom matter? How can we defend it in an age of rising authoritarianism? In this episode, I sit down with Tom Palmer to explo...
It’s Not Goodbye, It’s See You in September with Amy Willis
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIn this special episode of The Great Antidote, Amy Willis of Liberty Fund takes the mic to interview Juliette Sellgren, the voice behind...
The Limits of Liberty: Buchanan’s Case for Constitutional Rules with Edward Lopez
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat happens when people stop trusting rules—and start rewriting them?In this episode, we are joined by economist Edward Lopez about t...
Why Some States Succeed: Mobility, Markets, and the Freedom to Flourish with Justin Callais
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat makes some states thrive while others trap people in place? And what does it really mean to be free to move, grow, and flourish?In ...
Targeted Incentives: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why It Persists with Peter Calcagno
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRemember the Amazon HQ2 frenzy? When nearly every U.S. state competed to become Amazon’s next home, offering billions in tax breaks an...
What Monkeys Teach Us About Economics with Bart Wilson
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat if modern economics has overlooked what truly makes us human?In this episode, Bart Wilson joins us to explore humanomics—an appro...
The Dissident Project: Firsthand Stories of Life Without Freedom with Grace Bydalek
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat is it like to grow up under a dictatorship? The speakers of The Dissident Project don’t have to wonder — they’ve lived it. An...
Ryan Streeter on the Civitas Institute and Cultural Communities
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRyan Streeter is the executive director of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. Today, he tells us about his time...
Douglas Den Uyl and Douglas Rasmussen on Ayn Rand: What She Gets Right and Where She Goes Too Far
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe’ve talked about objectivism before on the podcast, but that was fairly introductory. Today, for the first time ever, I host two gue...
Daniel Hannan on Executive and Legislative Power
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJoin us today for a fun conversation about all things government, UK and US, with Lord Daniel Hannan of Kingsclere! Lord Hannan is a me...
Bob Ewing on Personal and Professional Success
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBob Ewing is the founder of the Ewing School and hosts a Substack called Talking Big Ideas (go check it out). He has also gifted me most...
Rachel Ferguson on Neighborhood Stabilization and Civil Society
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWe talk a lot about civil society and the importance of local, communal networks which hold us up when we’re down and inspire us to be...
Jo Jensen on Anxiety, Audiences, and Action
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJo Jensen is the founder of MovieGoer and she’s currently the SVP of Digital and Entertainment Strategy at Touchdown Strategies, a PR ...
Peter Van Doren on Universal Basic Income
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat is Universal Basic Income (UBI) and why is it so popular among economists and freedom lovers relative to other types of poverty pol...
Charlotte Thomas on Learning and the Liberal Arts
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome back. Continuing our ongoing exploration of what it means to be an individual living in a liberal society, today I am happy to h...
Brad Wilcox on Get Married
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe most common statistic cited regarding marriage and relationships in the United States is that the 50% of all marriages end in divorc...
Cara Rogers Stevens on Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThomas Jefferson was a complicated figure. Essential to the start of our country and the university I attend, he is impossible to ignore...
Douglas Irwin on Talking about Trade and Commerce
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textTrade is all the rage these days. Or, at least, raging about trade is. Today, we unpack what trade and free trade are, and how to talk a...
Anna Claire Flowers on F. A. Hayek and Social Structures
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text Today, I am excited to host Anna Claire Flowers to discuss F. A. Hayek and the mesocosmos. The mesocosmos is a fancy way to describe a...
Eric Leeper on Volcker, Friedman, and the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWelcome back! Happy New Year! Glad to be back! Come one, come all! Eric Leeper is the Paul Goodloe McIntire Professor in Economics at th...
David Beito on Rose Lane Says: Thoughts on Race, Liberty, and Equality
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textNot often do we find people who make the case for how race, liberty, and equality belong together. Even less often do we find them makin...
Sarah Skwire on Adam Smith and Grief
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAdam Smith was a man who read the Stoics. He liked them, too, talking them up in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, particularly in the sec...
David Henderson on the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis year’s Nobel Prize winners in economics are Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson, who wrote on the importance of inc...
Samuel Gregg on National Security and Industrial Policy
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPicture a policy conversation, perhaps in Washington, about national security. Who’s sitting around the table? It might be the Preside...
Tawni Hunt Ferrarini on Teaching Hayek
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textHow do you teach about a man who does not fit neatly into a box? Hayek is one such man, and today, we tackle the difficult task of putti...
Bruce Caldwell on Hayek: A Life
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textIt’s often said that if you want to get to know someone, you should look through their garbage. Now, I don’t recommend this method o...
Jacob Levy on Smith, Hayek, and Social Justice
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe title of this episode might confuse you: what on earth do Adam Smith and F. A. Hayek have to say about social justice? A surprising ...
Don Boudreaux on The Essential Hayek
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe month of October 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of F. A. Hayek winning the Nobel Prize. Winning such a prize is obviously a big dea...
Nicholas Snow on Prohibition
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text Do you ever take a moment to think about the fact that Americans, the people of the land of the free, spent 13 years under Prohibition...
Robert Doar on Think Tanks and Scholarship
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat does it actually mean to run a think tank, to create harmony within an office building full of idea-confident folk? Some have calle...
Yuval Levin on The American Covenant
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEven though I hope you’ve been avoiding the election news like I have (as you would the plague), admittedly, it’s hard to do. It’s...
Henry C. Clark on Growth
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGrowth is essential to human life. Always has been, always will be. From the moment we are born, we grow, and we continue to throughout ...
Candace Smith on Etiquette
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSome questions are hard to ask. Some questions you don’t want to ask. Some questions are hard for you to hear the answers to. Like, ho...
Paul Mueller on ESG
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat does it mean for something to be ESG when two of those words are adjectives and one is a noun? I mean think about it. “Environmen...
Ryan Bourne on The War on Prices
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textWhat’s in a price? Good question. How can you be “enslaved” to something like a price, to something that doesn’t eat, sleep, or ...
Michael Cannon on Prices and Health
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMichael Cannon is the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies and it is his third time on the podcast. He has been on The W...
Charles Noussair on Experimental Economics and Testing Institutions
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCharles Noussair is the Eller Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona and the Director of the Economic Science Laboratory. H...
Sandra Peart on Ethical Quandaries and Politics Without Romance
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSandra Peart is a Distinguished Professor of Leadership Studies and the President of the Jepson Scholars Foundation at the University of...
Daniel Di Martino on Life in Venezuela and Immigration
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDaniel Di Martino is a PhD candidate in Economics at Columbia University and a graduate fellow at the Manhattan Institute—where he foc...
Anne Bradley on the Political Economy of Terrorism
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAnne Bradley is an economics professor at the Institute of World Politics and the Vice President of Academic Affairs at The Fund for Ame...
Craig Richardson on Storytelling, Economics, and Magic
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCraig Richardson is a professor of economics at Winston-Salem State University, and the director of the Center for the Study of Economic...
Dan Klein on Smith: Self-Command, Pride, and Vanity
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDan Klein is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Today, He talks to us about another of Smith’s great ideas: self-com...
Katherine Mangu-Ward on AI: Reality, Concerns, and Optimism
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKatherine Mangu-Ward is the editor-in-chief of Reason: the Magazine for Free Minds and Free Markets. Today, we talk about what it is lik...
Ryan Yonk on the China Dilemma
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRyan Yonk is a Senior Research Faculty at the American Institute for Economic Research where he is the director of the Public Choice and...
Erik Matson on Adam Smith, David Hume, and the New Paternalists
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a text Erik Matson is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the Deputy Director of the Adam Smith pr...
Alice Temnick on Adam Smith as an Educator
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAlice Temnick joins us today on The Great Antidote. She is an IB economics teacher at the United Nations International School in Manhatt...
Russell Sobel on the Economics of Entrepreneurship
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRussell Sobel is a Professor of Economics and Entrepreneurship at the Baker school of Business at The Citadel and he just put out a new ...
Byron Carson on Malaria's Collective Action Problem
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textByron Carson is an associate professor of economics and business at Hampton-Sydney College in Virginia. He is also the author of a recen...
Matt Mitchell on the Realities of Socialism in Estonia
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMatt Mitchell is a senior fellow in the Center for Economic Freedom at the Fraser Institute and senior research fellow at the Knee Regul...
Kristi Kendall on Human Action and Inspiring Through Ideas
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKristi Kendall is the director of Undivide Us, a documentary about political polarization in America, what it does to us, and how to fix...
Stan Veuger on the Dutch Farmer Protests and Cannabis Legalization
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStan Veuger is a senior research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, with a myriad of different research areas including the po...
Giandomenica Becchio on Feminist Economics
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textGiandomenica Becchio is a professor of economics and the history of economic thought at the University of Torino. Today, she tells us ab...
David Henderson on Robert Solow
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDavid Henderson is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the editor of the Concise Encyclopedia of Economi...
David Boaz on Liberalism and the Continuing Progress of the Enlightenment
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDavid Boaz is a distinguished senior fellow of the Cato Institute and for over more than four decades, he was the executive vice preside...
Economic Freedom on the Reservation: A Conversation with Thomas Stratmann
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThomas Stratmann is a Distinguished University Professor of economics and law at George Mason University, a senior research fellow at th...
Kristi Kendall on Filmmaking and Documenting Our Divisions
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKristi Kendall is the director of the documentary Undivide Us, about the toxic polarization in America and practical steps to solving it...
Alice Temnick on Teaching, Learning, and Adam Smith's Education
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAlice Temnick teaches IB Economics for the United Nations International School in Manhattan and is an education consultant with Liberty ...
Alain Bertaud on Urban Planning and Cities
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAlain Bertaud is an urbanist and a senior research scholar at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management. He is the author of a book a...
Undivide Us: Ben Klutsey on Exploring and Confronting Polarization
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBen Klutsey is the Director of Academic Outreach and the Director of the Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange at the Mercatus Center ...
Robert Lawson on Educating for Economic Freedom: James Gwartney's Legacy
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textRobert Lawson is the Jerome M. Fullinwider Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom and is director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic F...
Adam White on the American Judiciary
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAdam White is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Co-Director of the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the...
Brent Orrell on Dignity and Work
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBrent Orrell is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where his research lights the path in job training, workforce de...
Lauren Hall on Radical Moderation
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLauren Hall is the author of several books, the author of the wonderful Substack The Radical Moderate’s Guide to Life, and a professor...
Cheryl Miller on Hertog and the Humanities
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textCheryl Miller is the executive director of the Hertog Foundation, an educational philanthropy organization in Washington, DC. Today, we ...
Kerianne Lawson on Equal Economic Freedoms
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textKerianne Lawson is a faculty scholar at the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth as well as an assistant professor of econ...
Bob Ewing on Communicating
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBob Ewing is the founder of the Ewing School, which helps clients with public speaking and listening skills, and writes the Substack Tal...
Albert Zambone on Historical Inquiry
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAlbert Zambone is the author of Daniel Morgan: A Revolutionary Life. He is also the host of the podcast Historically Thinking, where he ...
John Bitzan on the Culture at Universities
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJohn Bitzan is the Menard Family Director of the Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth at North Dakota St...
Vincent Geloso on Global Inequality
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday, I am excited to welcome on Vincent Geloso. He is an assistant professor at George Mason University, specializing in the measureme...
Chelsea Follett on Cities that Changed the World
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textI am excited to have Chelsea Follett on to talk to us about her new book Centers of Progress: 40 Cities that Changed the World. The titl...
Lawrence Reed on Best and Worst American Presidents
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textLawrence Reed is the president emeritus of the Foundation for Economic Education and of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. He is cur...
Pete Boettke on Mainline Economics
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textPeter Boettke is a professor of economics and philosophy at George Mason University, as well as the author of several books. Today we t...
Phil Gramm on How Government Biases Policy Debate
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textFormer Senator Phil Gramm began as a professor of economics at Texas A&M, then became a representative in the House, later becoming ...
Jeremy Horpedahl on The Real Cost of Thriving Index
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJeremy Horpedahl is the director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics and an associate professor at the University of Centra...
Jeremy Lott on Comics, Adam Smith, and More
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJeremy Lott is the managing editor at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, but he also has written several Adam Smith comics for Adam S...
Lawrence White on Currencies and Better Money
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textToday, I host Lawrence White on the podcast. He is an economics professor at George Mason University with a specialty in the history and...
Aaron Ross Powell on Visions of Liberty - Rerun
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textAaron Ross Powell, formerly of the Cato Institute (at the time of this interview), and currently the host of podcasts ReImagining Libert...
Arnold Kling on The Three Languages of Politics - Rerun
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Great Antidote is on a break from recording new content right now, but please enjoy this rerun of one of our favorites in the meanti...
Scott Winship on Poverty & Welfare - Rerun
11 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Great Antidote is on a break from recording new content right now, but please enjoy this rerun of one of our favorites in the meanti...
William B. Allen on The State of Black America - Rerun
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThe Great Antidote is on a break from recording new content right now, but please enjoy this rerun of one of our favorites in the meanti...
Emily Hamilton on Housing Deregulation
28 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEmily Hamilton is a senior research fellow and the director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. ...
TGA Special: Enquiry Concerning Hereafter, Part 2
21 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week is going to be a little different. Today I am excited to share with you a recording of the play Enquiry Concerning Hereafter b...
TGA Special: Enquiry Concerning Hereafter, Part 1
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textThis week is going to be a little different. Today I am excited to share with you a recording of the play Enquiry Concerning Hereafter b...
Steven Teles on Liberaltarianism
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textSteven Teles is a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center. Today he define...
Dan Klein on Hayek and The Band Man
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDan Klein is a professor of economics at George Mason University. Today he talks to us about F. A. Hayek’s conception of the Band-Man ...
Christine McDaniel on Trade: A Tale of Two Presidents
23 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textChristine McDaniel is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University with a focus on international trade and...
David Henderson on Economists’ Nobels, Obituaries, and More
16 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textDavid Henderson is a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and the editor of the Concise Encyclopedia of Economi...
John Cochrane on Monetary Versus Fiscal Policy
09 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textJohn Cochrane is a renowned economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He writes a popular blog calle...
Brian Hooks on Believe in People
02 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textBrian Hooks is the CEO and chairman of Stand Together, the president of the Charles Koch Foundation, and the co-author of Believe in Peo...
Emily Chamlee-Wright on the Liberal Sensibility
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textEmily Chamlee-Wright is the president and CEO of IHS, the Institute for Humane Studies. Today we talk about the liberal sensibility, wha...
Marian Tupy on Superabundance
19 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textMarian Tupy is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the coauthor of two books: Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, wi...
Yesim Sayin on the DC Life and Policy
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textYesim Sayin is the executive director and the founder of the DC Policy Center, a non-partisan, independent think tank that produces rese...
Stephanie Slade on Fusionism
05 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Send us a textStephanie Slade is a senior editor at Reason, the magazine of "free minds and free markets" and a fellow in liberal studies at...