Who is responsible for the life you build? In this Perspectives Matter conversation with host Dennis McCuistion, Daniel T. Richards explains the core ideas of Objectivism. It holds that each person has an individual mind and must act on their own ideas, and that your own life is your highest moral purpose. He argues that most of the choices that matter, from career and marriage to whether to have children, are within your control. He says those choices are worth making with joy. Watch the full interview here: piped.video/watch?v=XS5m63zm…

A Nobel Prize for a fancy math formula on vector autoregression techniques. It matters in academia, but cue the snoring. Phil and Lou talk about how the Nobel Prize in economics went from honoring great communicators to rewarding math only specialists can follow. As for the winners who decided the prize made them experts on everything? Phil has some names. All new episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness. happyhourecon.org/episodes/n…

You can’t have it both ways. Milton Friedman pointed out a contradiction that plenty of people hold without noticing. They oppose monopolistic restrictions in a profession. They also oppose unlicensed practice. Friedman’s answer: you have to choose. Licensure gives monopoly power to someone, either government or the organized profession. You can’t eliminate the monopoly while keeping the thing that creates it.

Why Nations Prosper, A Personal Exploration by Henrik Ekelund, is out now on YouTube and public television. The one-hour documentary shows what happens when a nation frees its people to create. Across the Netherlands, Vietnam, Botswana, and Chile, Ekelund uncovers how Freedom, Order, and Innovation built lasting prosperity, and why Americans cannot take those forces for granted. Watch the full film on YouTube or find it on your local public television station. piped.video/watch?v=aVvNIIBl…

The Impossible Burger was everywhere. Then it became a ghost haunting the grocery aisle. Lou and Phil hold a brief memorial for the plant-based meat boom and explain why hype is no match for taste buds. Stay for dessert with the full episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. happyhourecon.org/episodes/h…

Why is licensure so essential? Milton Friedman’s answer: take it away, and an organized profession would still have lots of power to do good, but no power to do harm. Licensure decides who gets admitted to practice. Whoever shapes the rules for admission holds the key to controlling the entire field.

Bob Chitester would have turned 89 today. In the late 1970s, he brought Milton and Rose Friedman a proposal: a 10-episode television series about free markets. His wager was simple. People will watch a program about economics if it tells a good story. Free To Choose proved him right. As executive producer, Bob brought Friedman's ideas into millions of living rooms, and he founded Free To Choose Network to carry that work forward. He spent the rest of his life making the case that freedom is worth understanding and worth explaining well. That work continues in every program we make today.

Conspicuous consumption, meet conspicuous production. Phil tells Lou why grocery stores make room for vegan products when roughly 1 in 100 Americans is vegan. The payoff isn’t in sales. It’s in the image of social responsibility. Come back for seconds with the full episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. happyhourecon.org/episodes/h…

How do you take the measure of a man who has shaped our thinking on politics and economics for over 50 years? By his influence, or by his words? Jason Riley, Larry Elder, and Steven Pinker on Thomas Sowell. Watch the full documentary, Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World. piped.video/watch?v=WK4M9iJr…

Three nations. Five continents. One question: Why do some nations prosper while others struggle? Why Nations Prosper premieres this Sunday, November 1, on public television and YouTube. freetochoosenetwork.org/prog…

What can Star Wars teach us about accepting change? In this clip from a 2025 episode of Perspectives Matter, host Dennis McCuistion talks with Geeky Stoics creator Stephen Kent about why philosophy should give us practical rules for living, not word games. Kent explains how the Stoic idea that change is inevitable reached him not through Marcus Aurelius but through Anakin Skywalker’s mother in Star Wars: Episode I and Gandalf’s advice to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. He argues that stories like these carry ancient wisdom to audiences who might never open a philosophy book. Watch the full interview here: piped.video/watch?v=XS5m63zm…

Lou Perez just discovered Phil Magness’ kryptonite: cashews and mushrooms. Phil’s allergy takes veganism off the table, and it opens up a bigger conversation about why no two people order the same thing for dinner. What ends up on a plate is personal preference, and a free market makes room for all of it, from the ubiquitous hamburger to the most niche diet out there. Save a seat for the full episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. happyhourecon.org/episodes/h…

Milton Friedman argued that government licensure of physicians does more than set standards. When only government-licensed individuals can practice medicine, whoever controls that licensing procedure gains monopoly power. Reducing and eliminating that monopoly power was the reason he called for ending licensure altogether.

The 100 new steel jobs get counted. The jobs that disappear because steel got more expensive never do. Lou and Phil on the economic activity that tariffs quietly erase. Start a tab with this week's full episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. happyhourecon.org/episodes/a…

Think about the last time you bought a shirt. You probably didn’t inspect the stitching or test the fabric. You trusted the store, because the store has a strong incentive to sell good shirts. Milton Friedman uses this everyday example to make a point about medicine. People who go to the Mayo Clinic aren’t vetting each physician themselves. They trust the clinic, which has every reason to choose able, well-trained doctors. Friedman’s argument is that without licensure and its restrictions on entry, we would have seen much more of this kind of group practice, and a much more effective way of selecting for quality in medicine.

How can you tell a real conspiracy from a paranoid one? Skeptic magazine founding publisher Michael Shermer, author of Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational talks with Perspectives Matter host Dennis McCuistion about "paranoid and realistic" conspiracy theories. Shermer explains the difference between realistic conspiracy theories, which tend to be specific and targeted, and paranoid ones that imagine a small secret group running the world. He offers a simple test for telling them apart, and explains why most grand conspiracies eventually come to light. Watch the full interview here: piped.video/watch?v=17jn_7iY…

Recorded in 2025, Julie Whelan, global head of occupier thought leadership at CBRE; Ben Wigert, Ph.D., director of research and strategy for workplace management at Gallup; and Andra Ghent, Ph.D., professor of finance at the University of Utah, join host Dr. Yoram Solomon to weigh the costs and benefits of bringing employees back to the office. The panel considers how remote and hybrid work affect productivity, mentorship, and fairness, why flexibility has become an expectation many workers won’t give up, and how managers and office spaces must adapt to make in-person work worth the commute. Listen now: blog.freetochoosenetwork.org…

America’s steel industry is the baby that never grew up. In 1789, a Pennsylvania congressman asked the very first Congress to shield his state’s young iron industry from British competition. Phil tells Lou how that one amendment kicked off American protectionism, and why a couple of centuries later, Washington is still protecting the same industry. Cheers to the full episode of Happy Hour Econ with @LouPerez and @PhilWMagness, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. happyhourecon.org/episodes/a…

"Thomas Sowell is that rarest of species, an honest intellectual." - Jason Riley From our 2021 documentary, Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World. piped.video/watch?v=WK4M9iJr…

Chile’s democracy thrives on participation, with citizens who engage and representative institutions that answer to them. Henrik Ekelund explores why nations that give their people a voice achieve lasting prosperity. Today, Chile grows stronger by opening itself to global markets. Why Nations Prosper premieres November 1 on public television and YouTube. freetochoosenetwork.org/prog…