Political Economy with Jim Pethokoukis

Latest Episodes
Kevin Corinth: AEI's New Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility
Here at the American Enterprise Institute weve launched a new Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility as part of our American Dream Initiative. Former AEI scholar Kevin Corinth has returned to the Institute to serve as deputy director. In this special
Derek Scissors: US-China Economic Relations
US-China relations have been strained in recent years over issues like trade, intellectual property theft, and supply chain reliance. How should we think about the economic ties between the US and China? And what are the keys to a prudent China
Michael Strain: What You Need to Know About the Debt Ceiling
With the US reaching its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, the Republican-controlled House and Democratic administration are set to spar over raising the debt limit. To sort through what's going on and whether the Twitter idea of minting a trillion-dollar coin
Bruce Caldwell: The Life and Ideas of F.A. Hayek
Austrian economist Friedrich A. Hayek fought in the First World War, lived through the Great Depression and the rise of fascism, and enjoyed a postwar career as a Nobel Prize-winning economist. He is known to us today as a champion of classical liberal th
Scott Winship: Measuring Poverty
When we talk about poverty in the United States, what do we mean? And how do we measure it? My AEI colleague Scott Winship returns to Political Economy to give us a primer on how the "war on poverty" is going.Scott is a senior fellow and Directo
J.C. Bradbury: The Case Against Stadium Subsidies
Professional sports teams love to ask local governments for public funds to build their stadiums. The teams claim these subsidies will "pay for themselves" through increased tourism and entertainment spending. But economists aren't so sure. For decades, r
James Capretta: Reforming US Health Policy
We often hear that health care in the United States is expensive, but what does that mean exactly? How can policymakers reform our healthcare system with a market-based approach? My colleague James C. Capretta, author of US Health Policy an
Stan Veuger: The State of the US Economy
At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, my AEI colleague Stan Veuger told me we needed to support firms until the US economy could rebound. Two and a half years later, how have we fared? Dr. Veuger is back to discuss our fiscal response to the pandemic, the
Kyle Pomerleau: A Tax Policy Primer
When voters and politicians discuss tax policy, the rates we have to pay and the revenue government will raise are front of mind. But what about the other economic effects of the tax code? Taxes can affect savings and investment, economic growth
Bryan Caplan: Free Markets, Demagoguery, and More
Why has the American political scene seemed to be so irrational in the past several years? Economist and author Bryan Caplan says it all comes down to social desirability bias, the observation that people prefer what sounds good to what's true. In this ep