Jon Hartley and Christopher Waller discuss monetary policy at the Fed, r-star, and the stance of monetary policy, the 2025 Federal Reserve framework review, quantitative easing and the size of the Fed balance sheet, the early 2020s inflation, and how payments are evolving since the passage of the GENIUS Act.

Recorded on August 28, 2025.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics.

For more information about the podcast, or subscribe for the next episode, click here.

Jon Hartley and Cass Sunstein discuss the current state as of 2025 of behavioral economics and ideas presented in Nudge (such as government nudge units), administrative law and regulation (cost-benefit analysis and regulatory budgets), Constitutional Law and separation of powers, political philosophy and liberalism.

Recorded on August 12, 2025.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics.

For more information about the podcast, or subscribe for the next episode, click here.

Jon Hartley and Liz Truss discuss the former UK Prime Minister’s upbringing and her early interest in economics and politics, her pro-growth policy vision for the United Kingdom, her premiership and the 2022 UK gilt crisis, the state of free speech in the UK and the anglosphere, the Starmer Labour government, the role of the UK and its allies in the world amidst the rise of China, and the future direction of politics and the economy in the UK.

Recorded on July 21, 2025.

ABOUT THE SERIES

Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics.

For more information about the podcast, or subscribe for the next episode, click here.