Free The Economy
Free The Economy is a weekly podcast hosted by Richard Morrison of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, examining the intersection of news, policy, and economics featuring guests that include writers, policymakers, explorers, contrarians, and free thinkers of all kinds.
Episodes
159 episodes
The Meaning of GDP with Brian Albrecht
This week we talk about the last 50 years of regulatory reform, a new study on climate adaptation, and reforms to Kentucky’s property tax system. Our guest this week is Brian Albrecht, chief economist of the International Center for Law and Eco...
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Episode 159
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54:37
Permitting for Speed with Grant Dever
This week we talk about making a living in podcasting, confronting our mounting national debt, and assessing President Trump’s new healthcare plan. Our guest this week is Grant Dever of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, also kno...
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Episode 158
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55:20
Total Boomer Luxury Communism with Russ Greene
This week we talk about Trump’s 10% credit card interest proposal (and the dangers of populist economics in general), a new report on debanking from Cato Institute analyst (and previous Free the Economy guest) Nick Anthony, and, via pr...
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Episode 157
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55:16
FDR’s Political Legacy with David Beito
This week we talk about communist housing policy in New York City, the best economics and history books to read in 2026, a legal setback for unions in California and New York, and the hottest gadgets from CES in Las Vegas. Our guest this week i...
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Episode 156
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1:02:39
China’s Economy and the U.S. with Derek Scissors
This week we talk about corporate real estate investing, woke pension funds, changing fuel economy rules, and questions about a possible Trump Federal Reserve nominee. Our guest this week is Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute a...
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Episode 155
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53:23
Climate Policy Endangerment with Marlo Lewis, Jr.
This week we talk about tariff refunds, Affordable Care Act subsidies, Ryan Young’s Books of the Year for 2025, and how Santa landed on Trump’s naughty list. Our guest this week is Marlo Lewis, Jr., senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise I...
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Episode 154
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1:06:08
Consumer Finance and Privacy with James Erwin
This week we talk about the decline of electric vehicles, liberation for home appliances, the failure of tariffs to deliver new jobs, and the rise of climate realism. Our guest this week is James Erwin, Director of Innovation Policy at American...
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Episode 153
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51:32
The Business of America with Neil Bradley
This week we talk about the economic impact of net-zero policies in blue states and Europe, top targets for environmental policy reform in 2026, a new report on digital debanking from Congress, and why 38% of Stanford students are claiming to b...
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Episode 152
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51:05
Balancing the Budget with Kurt Couchman
This week we talk about our 150th episode anniversary party, the documentary Dear Mr. President: The Letters of Julia Sand, the new $140,000-a-year poverty level, billionaire envy, and socialist deregulation of small businesses in New York City...
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Episode 151
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58:44
Sesquicentennial Celebration
This week we celebrate the show’s sesquicentennial anniversary – that is, our 150th episode. We look back at the dozens of smart, funny, passionate, and insightful guests we’ve had over the past three years and let you hear from several in thei...
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Episode 150
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48:19
Charting Tariff Madness with Joey Politano
This week we talk about changes in consumer credit, disappearing fast-food jobs in California, and six things the climate movement gets wrong about China. Our guest this week is popular economics Substacker and chart maker extraordinaire Joey P...
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Episode 149
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58:28
Truth, Lies, and Economics with Jeremy Horpedahl
This week we talk about Social Security’s cost of living, conserving rare earth minerals, and why California keeps losing tech jobs. Our guest this week is Prof. Jeremy Horpedahl, director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics, assoc...
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Episode 148
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44:39
Our Nuclear Tomorrow with Craig Piercy
This week we talk about administrative law judges, AI innovation saving lives, environmental regulation creating more wildfires, and more research on the fight against corporate welfare. Our interview this week is with Craig Piercy, CEO of the ...
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Episode 147
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50:22
Obamacare Problems with Jeremy Nighohossian
This week we talk about the unintended consequences of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, decarbonization of economic growth, and resources for reporting government corruption at the local level. Our interview this week is with Jeremy Nighohossian...
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Episode 146
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44:49
Energy Diversity and Abundance with Stephen Perkins
This week we talk about the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics, eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, why we don’t need a government agency for jobs data, how market trade builds social capital, and a new article on the managerial ty...
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Episode 145
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48:02
Celebrating Human Achievement with Ed Hudgins
This week we talk about the need to build more infrastructure in the UK, an award for public finance leadership in Oklahoma, teaching students to actually read in Mississippi, and shifting the Overton Window on corporate welfare. Our interview ...
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Episode 144
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48:59
Reforming Social Security with Romina Boccia
This week we cover a new study on pharmaceutical tariffs, whether to expect a new Great Depression (via Phil Magness and Marc Wheat in National Review), and how the U.S. auto industry is souring on the electric vehicle revolution. Our interview...
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Episode 143
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41:02
Emergent Abundance with Alex Trembath
This week we cover the future of financial regulation, the end of the left vs. right distinction in politics, and how we all just dodged a bullet on alcohol and public health. Our interview this week is with Alex Trembath, deputy director of th...
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Episode 142
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56:42
Empowering Patients with Vance Ginn
This week we cover potential changes to quarterly reporting for public companies, state-level AI regulations, spiking gas prices in California, and cosmetology licenses for sale in D.C. Our interview this week is with Vance Ginn, host of the Le...
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Episode 141
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44:57
Tariffs and Economic Freedom with Matt Mitchell
This week we cover the latest jobs numbers, the emergent community of abundance fans, the limits to taxing billionaires, and eliminating an illegal federal agency. Our interview this week is with Matt Mitchell, senior fellow in the Centre for H...
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Episode 140
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44:12
Clear-But-False Ideas with Kevin Williamson
This week we cover the Trump tariffs being struck down, Biden’s competition order being vacated, and new research on housing affordability. Our interview this week is with Kevin Williamson, national correspondent at The Dispatch and host of the...
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Episode 139
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1:00:53
Ideological Diversity on the Right with Peter Lipsett
This week we cover Ray Dalio’s Big Debt Cycle, scandal in climate finance, jobs destroyed by tariffs, why AI can’t replace free markets, and the debut of the new publication "The Argument." Our interview this week is with Peter Lipsett...
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Episode 138
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47:24
Subsidies for Billionaires with David McGarry
This week we cover White House intervention in corporate ownership, the nation’s falling economic freedom ranking, and welcome new reforms to the Endangered Species Act. Our interview this week is with David McGarry, Research Director at the Ta...
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Episode 137
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38:49
Welfare and Work with Kevin Corinth
This week we cover new inflation data, public attitudes about Social Security, and California’s self-inflicted energy crisis. Our interview this week is with Kevin Corinth, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Center on Opportunity and Soci...
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Episode 136
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49:54
Girlbossing the Discourse with Emma Camp
This week we cover controversy at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, myths of the auto industry, and a new SPAC from the Trump kids. Our interview this week is with Emma Camp, associate editor at Reason magazine and author of the forthcoming book ...
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Episode 135
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47:38