The Human Action Podcast

Dr. Jonathan Newman returns to the Human Action Podcast to discuss the relaunch of the Mises Academy—including his new course based on Bob's Lessons for the Young Economist textbook. But this conversation goes much deeper than curriculum. Bob and Jonathan unpack the fundamental question: What is economics, really? They

Dr. Joe Salerno joins Bob to review the recent tensions between Donald Trump and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. As Trump questions Powell’s leadership and Fed policy, they explore the deeper issues: Should central banks really be "independent"? Does the Fed’s shield from political oversight protect sound economics—or mere

The Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) crowd prides itself on fidelity to actual history. But Murphy shows how leading MMT guru Randall Wray completely distorts his discussion of two historical episodes in his college lecture.Wray, "Modern Money Theory for Beginners": Mises.org/HAP496aThe NBER Paper on Colonial Virginia's Mo

In this episode, Bob breaks down the Triffin dilemma, explaining why it's wrong to assume that maintaining global reserve currency status requires ever-increasing U.S. trade deficits. He shows that America’s chronic deficits are driven more by government spending and fiat money than by global necessity, making the case

Jonathan Newman joins Bob to discuss the debate between Austrians and MMTers on the origins of money. In the Anti-MMT panel at the Austrian Economics Research Conference (AERC), Jonathan presented his research on the archeological evidence that silver was used as money in ancient Mesopotamia and how the evidence vindic

Patrick Newman joins Bob to discuss one of his talks at the Austrian Economics Research Conference (AERC), where he explained that Simon Kuznets–who developed the method of calculating GNP and GDP statistics–had serious doubts about how to include government expenditures.Patrick's Talk at the 2025 AERC: Mises.org/HAP49