The Human Progress Podcast

Why do some civilizations flourish while others stagnate? Martin Seligman, a psychologist, author, and founder of the modern positive psychology movement, suggests that the answer may lie not just in institutions or technology, but in what people believe they can achieve.

In his latest book, Agency: The Psychological History of Human Progress, Seligman argues that agency, the belief in our ability to shape the future, has been a powerful driver of innovation and human progress.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, our research fellow Adam Omary and Cato Institute senior fellow Johan Norberg speak with Seligman about the historical role of human agency, its relationship to freedom and optimism, the psychology of learned helplessness, why pessimism can undermine progress, and whether artificial intelligence will strengthen or weaken our ability to shape the future.

Americans have never been more aware of mental health. Therapy is more accessible, psychiatric diagnoses are more common, and the language of trauma and self-care has entered everyday life. Yet by many measures, mental health in America appears to be worsening.

In his new book, Therapy Nation: How America Got Hooked on Therapy and Why It’s Left Us More Anxious and Divided, psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert argues that the mental health profession may be partly responsible for that paradox.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, our research fellow Adam Omary speaks with Alpert about psychiatric overdiagnosis, the rise of therapy culture, the benefits and dangers of mental health labels, why therapy can sometimes backfire, and how a stronger sense of personal agency can help people become happier and more resilient.

The United States has spent decades trying to reduce poverty through an expanding social safety net. But how much of the country’s progress against poverty is thanks to that redistribution, and how much has come from economic growth?In a recent paper, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Kevin Corinth and economist Richard Burkhauser examine nearly a century of American poverty trends. They find that poverty was already falling rapidly before the War on Poverty began, when government transfers played a much smaller role and rising market incomes drove much of the improvement.In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, our research fellow Chelsea Follett speaks with Corinth about how we measure poverty, the relative roles of economic growth and redistribution in reducing it, the trade-offs created by the social safety net, the lessons of 1990s welfare reform, and why economic growth remains essential to lifting people out of poverty.

Our research fellow Chelsea Follett speaks with Walker Wright about the moral character of markets, the relationship between economic freedom and good behavior, the effects of commerce on prejudice and violence, and why buying and selling from one another may help make us better people.

Our editor Marian Tupy speaks with economist Brian Albrecht about the role of prices in modern prosperity.

They discuss why price controls fail, whether scarcity can ever truly disappear, the difference between large companies and monopolies, price discrimination, and the underappreciated ways in which competitive markets enrich our lives.

Dr. Brian C. Albrecht is the chief economist at the International Center for Law & Economics and author of the Economic Forces newsletter.

Our managing editor Chelsea Follett speaks with economist Michael Strain about the myth of American decline and the dangers of populism. They discuss the rise of populism on the left and right, the evidence that American living standards have improved, why inequality does not explain today’s political discontent, and how policies built on a false diagnosis of national failure could undermine the prosperity and opportunity they promise to restore.

The Gilded Age has become one of the most common analogies for our own time, invoked as shorthand for economic inequality and political corruption. But that comparison misses much of what made the period extraordinary. After the Civil War, the United States experienced an incredible period of economic growth that completely transformed American life and landscapes.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, economic historian Brian Domitrovic joins our managing editor Chelsea Follett to discuss why the conventional story of the Gilded Age is incomplete, how industrialization made ordinary Americans better off, and what we can learn from the triumphs of the Gilded Age.

The industrial food system is often treated as a symbol of everything people distrust about modernity: too processed, too corporate, too artificial, and too detached from land and labor.

That critique obscures one of the greatest achievements in human history: modern food production has made food cheaper, safer, more abundant, and more varied than ever before.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, Adam Omary speaks with political scientist Jan Dutkiewicz about his new book Feed the People: Why Industrial Food Is Good and How We Can Make It Even Better. They discuss the great achievements of the industrial food system, the panic over processed foods, nostalgia for preindustrial agriculture, and how to make food healthier and more sustainable without giving up the system that feeds us.

Roger Pielke Jr. joins Marian Tupy to discuss the latest climate research and how to think clearly about climate change.

Samuel Gregg joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the rise of a more interventionist economic consensus and the case for markets in modern America.

Check out his book, The Next American Economy: Nation, State, and Markets in an Uncertain World.

Steven Pinker joins Marian Tupy to discuss the so-called "crisis of meaning," the decline of religion, and what can give life purpose in a modern, largely secular world.

Our editor Marian Tupy speaks with writer and policy scholar Brink Lindsey about his new book The Permanent Problem: The Uncertain Transition from Mass Plenty to Mass Flourishing.

They discuss why material abundance produces dissatisfaction, the decline of marriage and community, bureaucratic stagnation, and the cultural and institutional innovations needed to produce mass satisfaction without scarcity.

Environmentalists often claim that solving climate change requires scarcity: less energy, less consumption, and less economic growth.

Zion Lights, a former radical environmentalist, now argues the opposite—that energy abundance is necessary for both thriving human societies and environmental protection. Her latest book, Energy Is Life, tells the story of her journey from Extinction Rebellion activist to outspoken advocate for nuclear power.

In this episode of The Human Progress Podcast, Zion Lights joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how modern environmentalism became fixated on scarcity, how nuclear power became so misunderstood, and why energy is essential to human wellbeing.

Johan Norberg examines the conditions that create human flourishing and why golden ages so often come to an end.

Buy his book, Peak Human.

Psychologist Chris Ferguson joins Adam Omary to discuss American mental health, cognitive biases, and the dangers of narrative overreach.

Buy his book, Catastrophe!: How Psychology Explains Why Good People Make Bad Situations Worse.Read his article on loneliness.

Scott Winship joins Marian Tupy to discuss how bad measurement choices distort the picture of poverty and inequality in the United States.

Yaron Brook joins Marian Tupy to discuss the pessimistic populism of the New Right.

Policy analyst Marcos Falcone joins Chelsea Follett to discuss Milei’s recent electoral success and the economic reforms he might pursue using this new political leverage.

Peter Boettke joins Marian Tupy to examine the institutional foundations of the modern world. Check out his book, The Historical Path to Liberty and Human Progress.

Sarah McLaughlin joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the rising influence of foreign authoritarian governments on college campuses.

Check out her book, Authoritarians in the Academy: How the Internationalization of Higher Education and Borderless Censorship Threaten Free Speech.

Please note that we recorded this interview before Kirk’s murder, so he is not mentioned, though we believe that event makes conversations like this one even more relevant.

Bryan Caplan joins Marian Tupy to discuss the relationship between formal education and innovation.

Check out his book, The Case against Education.

Psychology researcher Tim Lomas joins Chelsea Follett to explore surprising global trends in happiness, meaning, mental health, and more.

Economist Donald Boudreaux joins Marian Tupy to discuss important misconceptions about American economic history and why it’s crucial to set the record straight.

Learn more in his book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism.

Philosopher and author Maarten Boudry joins Chelsea Follett to examine the cultural and ideological roots of Western anti-Western sentiment.

Tyler Cowen joins Marian Tupy to discuss the New Right, the relationship between freedom and progress, and whether classical liberalism is equipped to meet today's political challenges.

Marian Tupy speaks with writer and political thinker Matt Johnson about historicism, progress, and how tribalism and the “desire for recognition” are testing the foundations of open societies.

Stephanie Murray joins Chelsea Follett to discuss discourse around falling birth rates, the tension between pro-natalism and classical liberal values, and how it might be resolved.

Scott Lincicome joins Marian Tupy to discuss how President Trump's trade policies will affect American prosperity, national security, government revenue, and industry.

Daniel Griswold, the former director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the true legacy of globalization.

Existential psychologist Clay Routledge joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how Americans think about the future, recent trends in mental health, the alleged "crisis of meaning," and how nostalgia can drive progress.

Jon Moynihan, a businessman, author, and life peer, joins Marian Tupy to discuss why economic growth matters and how the UK and other social democracies can avoid financial collapse, economic stagnation, and long-term deterioration in living standards.

John Early, a mathematical economist and adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss popular misconceptions about inequality in the United States and the measurement errors behind them.

Daniel Waldenström, a professor of economics at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the decline of wealth and income inequality in the Western world.

Jennifer Huddleston, a senior fellow in technology policy at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the benefits of digital technologies as well as how we should think about the risks and problems they pose.

World-renowned historian and sociologist Rainer Zitelmann joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the ideas, attitudes, and policies that allowed Poland and Vietnam to escape poverty.

David Inserra, a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent attacks on free speech and how censorship can threaten progress.

Jennifer Schulp, the director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology and regulation are shaping the future of investment.

Jay Richards, a senior research fellow and center director at The Heritage foundation, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss why robots and artificial intelligence won't lead to widespread unemployment.

Leandro Prados de la Escosura, Emeritus Professor of Economic History at Carlos III University in Spain, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss long term trends in wellbeing, inequality, and freedom.

Travis Fisher, the director of energy and environmental policy studies at the Cato Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent developments in U.S. energy and environmental policy.

Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst on Latin America at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the recent election of Javier Milei and what it means for the future of Argentina and the rest of Latin America.

Jack Solowey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute focusing on financial technology, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the potential benefits of cryptocurrency and the regulatory challenges it faces.

James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how we can reignite American optimism and build the sci-fi world we were promised.

Climate activism has a cult problem

David Ansara, the Chief Executive of the Free Market Foundation, a South African think tank, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss progress and problems in Africa.

David Ansara has been Chief Executive at the FMF since 1 January 2023. He has 15 years’ experience working for think tanks, consultancies and trade associations. David was the Executive Director of the Centre for Risk Analysis (CRA) at the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) where he hosted the CRA’s YouTube Channel and the weekly podcast, Solutions with David Ansara. He is a regular speaker at conferences and events, and a strong advocate for individual liberty and market-based approaches to public policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Cape Town.

Learn more: https://www.freemarketfoundation.com/about-us-board-of-directors

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Erec Smith, a Professor of Rhetoric and the co-founder of Free Black Thought, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the problems with critical social justice and how we can pursue true empowerment through classical liberal ideas.
Erec Smith is a Visiting Scholar of Politics and Society for the Cato Institute and an Associate Professor of Rhetoric at York College of Pennsylvania. Although he has eclectic scholarly interests, his primary work focuses on the rhetorics of anti‐​racist activism, theory, and pedagogy as well as the role of rhetoric in a free, pluralistic, and civil society. He is a co‐​founder of Free Black Thought, a nonprofit dedicated to highlighting viewpoint diversity within the black communities. Free Black Thought includes a compendium of black artists, writers, academics, and public intellectuals not discussed in mainstream media. The Organization also has a Journal of Free Black Thought, that publishes anything–from poetry to scholarly work—that discusses or displays a variety of viewpoints within the black diaspora. Smith is the author or A Critique of Anti‐​Racism in Rhetoric and Composition: The Semblance of Empowerment (2020), a book in which he scrutinizes contemporary modes of anti‐​racism in his field. The book was conceived after Smiths observations of his field led him to conclude that anti‐​racist initiatives did more to disempower students and faculty than empower them. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/erec-smith Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

Todd Myers, a director at the Washington Policy Center, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how technology empowers individuals to protect the environment without the need for top-down government programs.

With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd Myers’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. A former member of the executive team at the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, he is a member of the Puget Sound Salmon Recovery Council. Learn more: https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/authors/detail/todd-myers

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Professor Todd Zywicki joins Chelsea Follett to discuss environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) and the threat it poses to innovation, economic growth, and democracy.

Robert Wright, a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the history of slavery and the damage it does to society.

Robert E. Wright is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of over two dozen major books, book series, and edited collections, including AIER’s The Best of Thomas Paine (2021) and Financial Exclusion (2019). He has also (co)authored numerous articles for important journals, including the American Economic Review, Business History Review, Independent Review, Journal of Private Enterprise, Review of Finance, and Southern Economic Review. Robert has taught business, economics, and policy courses at Augustana University, NYU’s Stern School of Business, Temple University, the University of Virginia, and elsewhere since taking his Ph.D. in History from SUNY Buffalo in 1997. Learn more: https://www.aier.org/people/robert-e-wright/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

The economist Stephen Barrows joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the intellectual history of population economics, the benefits of population growth, and what we can expect from a future of falling fertility.  

Stephen Barrows, Chief Operating Officer, Acton Institute. 

Prior to his role at the Acton Institute, Dr. Barrows served as the Executive Vice President, Provost and Dean of Faculty of Aquinas College (Grand Rapids, MI) where he was also a tenured associate professor of economics. While at Aquinas, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in economics, and led a team of more than 85 full-time faculty, 150 part-time faculty, and 30 staff members serving more than 1,500 undergraduate and 150 graduate students. Dr. Barrows also served 21 years in the Air Force as an acquisition officer, an economics professor at the United States Air Force Academy and a faculty mentor at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan. He retired from the Air Force in 2013, holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. A graduate with distinction of the Air Force Academy, Barrows has a bachelor of science degree in economics (1992), a master of arts degree in economics from Pennsylvania State University (1993), and a doctorate in economics from Auburn University (2002). He and his wife Kimberly (née Uddin) are the parents of three sons and two daughters. 

Learn more: https://www.acton.org/about/staff/stephen-p-barrows-phd 

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Chris Barnard, the Vice President of External Affairs at the American Conservation Coalition, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent innovations in nuclear energy, the clean energy transition, and how markets can tackle environmental issues.

Christopher Barnard is half-American, half-Belgian, and joined ACC after having spent the first 22 years of his life in Europe. Whilst living in England, he founded the UK version of ACC - the British Conservation Alliance, which quickly grew to become the largest environmental campus network in the country. During his time with BCA, he spoke at over 20 events and conferences in 10 countries and wrote regularly for the Daily Telegraph, CapX, Washington Examiner, etc. He also published the book Green Market Revolution, which he co-authored with a host of innovative environmental pro-market thinkers and scholars, and which has now been read in 91 countries around the world. He achieved this alongside completing a master's degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics. Learn more: https://www.acc.eco/staff

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human
Progress
.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐
being by providing free empirical data on long‐
term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Will Duffield joins Chelsea Follett to discuss recent advances in artificial intelligence, how they can improve our lives, and the challenges they may pose.  

Will Duffield is a policy analyst in Cato's Center for Representative Government, where he studies speech and internet governance. He's also an expert on a host of related issues in technology policy. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/will-duffield

How did the modern dynamist economy of wealth and opportunity come about? Author and Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs Stephen Davies joins Chelsea Follett to discuss his book "The Wealth Explosion: The Nature and Origins of Modernity."

Economic historian Deirdre McCloskey speaks to HumanProgress editor Marian Tupy about economics, hierarchy, and how liberal ideas led to the modern world.

Since at least the 2016 U.S. presidential election, policymakers on the right and the left have lamented the plight of the "American Worker" and promised to fix it. Unfortunately the most common "pro-worker" policies today—heavy on government intervention in labor, trade, or other markets—suffer from critical flaws. They overlook the laundry list of current laws and regulations that distort markets, harm most American workers, and breed economic sclerosis. They ignore market-based solutions to boost workers' independence, mobility, wealth, resilience, and quality of life. And they are based on stereotypes that fundamentally misrepresent who today's "American Worker" really is.

Recent trends in manufacturing, remote work, independent work, globalization, and other areas argue for a different kind of "pro-worker" policy—one that, instead of promoting a certain kind of worker, promising cradle-to-grave protection from disruption, or presuming that the employment and lifestyle trends of today will last beyond tomorrow, maximizes Americans' autonomy, mobility, and living standards. This book identifies what Cato Institute scholars believe to be the most important market-oriented policies to achieve these objectives, on issues like education, labor regulation, licensing, housing, healthcare, criminal justice, and consumer necessities. Each chapter identifies the problems facing American workers and suggests pro-market ways for federal, state, and local officials to fix them. Combined, these policies will give individuals the freedom and resources they need to be the "American worker" they want to be—not the one a few policymakers think they should be—and to be happier and more prosperous in the process.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/commentary/labor-day-better-policy-all-american-workers

Scott Lincicome is the director of general economics and Cato’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. He writes on international and domestic economic issues, including international trade; subsidies and industrial policy; manufacturing and global supply chains; and economic dynamism. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/scott-lincicome

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Can Markets Protect Nature? Hannah Downey is the policy director at PERC, helping to bring free market solutions to environmental policy challenges. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The Salt Lake Tribune, and local papers. She holds degrees in economics and political science from Montana State University. 

Learn more: https://www.perc.org/about-us/people/

Twitter: @handowney 

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Ukrainian lawyer and economist Maria Chaplia joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/maria-chaplia-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-25-transcript/

Maria mainly works in the field of trade, lifestyle regulations, and platform economy. Her research and writing have been featured in Daily Mail, The Independent, Financial Times, Der Spiegel, Huffington Post, Conservative Home, CapX, Spiked, Euractiv, The Parliament Magazine, Cato Institute, the Institute of Economic Affairs, and more. She is also a Fellow at 21Democracy. 

Learn more:  https://www.21democracy.com/about/ 

https://www.mariachaplia.com

Fundraiser link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/alexander-hammond-maria-chaplia-fundraiser-ukrainian-refugees

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Author and optimist Jason Feifer joins Chelsea Follett to discuss change, why we fear it, and how we can embrace it to build a better future.

Build for Tomorrow on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Tomorrow-Embracing-Adapting-Future-Proofing/dp/059323538X

Jason Feifer is the editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and host of the podcast Problem Solvers, which is about entrepreneurs solving unexpected problems in their business. Outside of Entrepreneur, he is the author of the book Build For Tomorrow, which is an action plan for embracing change and adapting fast, as the host of the podcast Build For Tomorrow (yes, same name as the book), which is about the smartest solutions to our most misunderstood problems. He writes a newsletter about how to find opportunity in change. 

Learn more: https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/jason-feifer

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Robert Zubrin is an aerospace engineer and the author of several books on space exploration, with a particular focus on Mars. His work has been subject of favorable press coverage in The Economist, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the London Times, The Washington Post, Fortune Magazine, Newsweek, and many other publications, and he has appeared on the Discovery Channel, CNN, NPR, and the BBC. He is the founder and President of the Mars Society and was formerly a Staff Engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics. He holds a Master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Washington. Keep an eye out for his forthcoming book on nuclear energy and learn more about his most recent book, The Case for Space, here: https://www.humanprogress.org/zubrin-the-future-of-space/ 

The Case for Space: How the Revolution in Spaceflight Opens Up a Future of Limitless Possibility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGnBGCR-0FU

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Psychologist Gena Gorlin argues that internalizing the universe's tendency toward death and disorder can help us appreciate what we have and compel us to build a better future. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/gena-gorlin-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-29-transcript/

Read her article: https://progressforum.org/posts/JjiewkPhAYmFzY3KL/death-is-the-default-why-building-is-our-safest-way-forward

Dr. Eugenia (Gena) Gorlin is an Assistant Professor in the Clinical Psychology Psy.D. Program in the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. She received her B.S. in Psychology and Philosophy from Tufts University, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia, and her clinical internship training from the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She completed two years of postdoctoral training at Boston University, where she conducted experimental and clinical intervention research in the Translational Research Program and provided psychotherapy to anxious and depressed adults at the renowned Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD). She is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and related approaches to the treatment of anxiety, depression, and various concerns tied to motivation and goal pursuit. Learn more: https://genagorlin.com

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Rosemarie Fike joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the importance of economic freedom to women's wellbeing. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/rosemarie-fike-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-28-transcript/

Women’s ability to contribute to, and benefit from, market institutions is a topic of vital economic importance. When entire groups of people, like women, are restricted from owning property, moving freely within their countries and abroad, starting a business, or working in a particular occupation, everyone is robbed of the value that could have been created if they had been allowed to share their talents and ideas with the world.

Rosemarie Fike is an Instructor of Economics at Texas Christian University and a Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute. She received her M.A. in Economics at George Mason University, and her Ph.D. in Economics at Florida State University. She is an alumna of the Mercatus Center’s MA Fellowship and Adam Smith Fellowship programs. Her current research focuses on understanding the effects that different types of economic institutions have on the lives and status of women. She is the author of the Fraser Institute's Women and Progress report. In 2017, she received the Addington Prize for Measurement. Her scholarly work has been published in the Eastern Economics Journal, Journal of Economic Education, and Journal of Benefit/Cost Analysis. She has published opinion editorials in news outlets such as US News and World Report, The Hill, and Roll Call. Learn more: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/profile/rosemarie-fike

Chelsea Follett speaks to Gret Gyler, the founder and CEO of DonorSee, about his private-sector alternative to the traditional foreign aid model.  

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/gret-glyer-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-27-transcript/

Gret Glyer is the CEO of DonorSee and has raised more than a million dollars for those in extreme poverty. From 2013 to 2016, Glyer lived with the world’s poorest people in Malawi, Africa where he built more than 150 houses for the homeless, and crowdfunded $100,000 to build a girls’ school in rural Malawi. Glyer has been featured in USA Today, National Review, HuffPo, Acton Institute, and is a TEDx Speaker. Learn more: https://www.donorsee.com/team/gret-glyer

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments.

Dr. Kristian Niemietz and Marian Tupy discuss socialism, its history of failure, and its recent resurgence in popularity. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/dr-kristian-niemietz-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-26-transcript/

Socialism is strangely impervious to refutation by real-world experience. Over the past hundred years, there have been more than two dozen attempts to build a socialist society, from the Soviet Union to Maoist China to Venezuela. All of them have ended in varying degrees of failure. But, according to socialism’s adherents, that is only because none of these experiments were “real socialism”.  

This book documents the history of this, by now, standard response. It shows how the claim of fake socialism is only ever made after the event. As long as a socialist project is in its prime, almost nobody claims that it is not real socialism.  

On the contrary, virtually every socialist project in history has gone through a honeymoon period, during which it was enthusiastically praised by prominent Western intellectuals. It was only when their failures became too obvious to deny that they got retroactively reclassified as “not real socialism”. 

Purchase book: https://www.amazon.com/Socialism-Failed-Idea-That-Never/dp/B07QPWBNHK/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1652280018&sr=8-1

Dr Kristian Niemietz joined the IEA in 2008 as Poverty Research Fellow, becoming its Senior Research Fellow in 2013, Head of Health and Welfare in 2015 and Head of Political Economy in 2018. Kristian is also a Fellow of the Age Endeavour Fellowship. 

He studied Economics at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and the Universidad de Salamanca, graduating in 2007 as Diplom-Volkswirt (≈MSc in Economics). During his studies, he interned at the Central Bank of Bolivia (2004), the National Statistics Office of Paraguay (2005), and at the IEA (2006). In 2013, he completed a PhD in Political Economy at King’s College London. Kristian previously worked as a Research Fellow at the Berlin-based Institute for Free Enterprise (IUF), and at King’s College London, where he taught Economics throughout his postgraduate studies. He is a regular contributor to various journals in the UK, Germany and Switzerland.

Learn more: https://iea.org.uk/dr-kristian-niemietz/

Political scientist Axel Kaiser joins Marian Tupy to discuss progress in Chile and the political changes that threaten the country's future.  

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/axel-kaiser-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-24-transcript/

Axel Kaiser Barents von Hohenhagen is a Chilean-German lawyer, Master in Investments, Commerce and Arbitration, Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He is Director of the FA Hayek Chair at the Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago de Chile, and co-founder and president of the think tank Foundation for Progress in Chile. He is a columnist for the newspapers Financiero and El Mercurio and his opinions have been published in international media such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Quillette, Forbes.com, La Nación de Argentina, El País de Uruguay and El Mundo, among others. He is an international lecturer and author of several best-selling books including El Engaño Populista (Deusto, 2016), The Pope and Capitalism (2018), The Tyranny of Equality (El Mercurio, 2015) La fatal ignorancia (2009) and The Neo inquisition (Deusto 2020). Learn more: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/partners/center-for-latin-america

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Danish lawyer and author Jacob Mchangama joins Chelsea Follett to discuss the history of free speech and how it protects liberty and democracy. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/jacob-mchangama-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-23-transcript/

Jacob Mchangama is the founder and executive director of Justitia and a visiting fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in Washington. He has commented extensively on free speech and human rights in outlets including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy. Jacob has published in academic and peer-reviewed journals, including Human Rights Quarterly, Policy Review, and Amnesty International’s Strategic Studies. Jacob is also the host and narrator of the podcast "Clear and Present Danger: a history of free speech" and the author of the critically acclaimed and is the recipient of numerous awards for his work on free speech and human rights. Learn more: http://justitia-int.org/en/ 

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Futurist Isaac Arthur joins Chelsea Follett to discuss humanity's next century. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/isaac-arthur-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-22-transcript/

Challenges & Predictions for the Next 100 Years. Science & Futurism with Isaac Arthur  Isaac Arthur is a science communication YouTuber and futurist. He is best known as producer of his YouTube channel, Science & Futurism With Isaac Arthur (SFIA), where he discusses a broad variety of topics on futurism and space exploration. After getting his degree in physics, Isaac served in the U.S. Army and is a veteran of the Iraq War, and is currently the Chairman of the Ashtabula County Board of Elections in Ohio. In 2020, Arthur was named the recipient of the National Space Society's Space Pioneer Award for Education via Mass Media for his YouTube channel. Website: https://isaacarthur.net/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐
term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Psychologist and Author Mark Henry joins Marian Tupy to discuss Ireland's incredible economic transformation. 

Mark Henry trained as a psychologist and led the research and strategy functions of Irish technology companies before turning to work in tourism. Having spent two decades telling people all over the world what a great country Ireland is, he is passionate about sharing the incredible progress we have made. Learn more: https://www.markhenry.ie/about 

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human​Progress​.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐​being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Matt Warner, president of Atlas Network, argues that international development works best when it respects human dignity, local knowledge, and self-determination.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/matt-warner-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-20-transcript/

Matt Warner is president of Atlas Network, a nonprofit grantmaking organization committed to supporting local NGOs in more than 90 countries. Matt is the editor of Poverty and Freedom: Case Studies on Global Economic Development and coined the term "the outsider's dilemma" to describe the challenge of helping low-income countries develop without getting in the way of their most viable paths to prosperity. Matt writes, speaks, and consults internationally on the topics of economics, institution building, nonprofit management, and impact philanthropy. His work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Hill, Cato Journal, Forbes, Harvard's Education Next, and EconTalk, among others. Matt has a master's degree in economics from George Mason University and is certified by Georgetown University in organizational development consulting. He is also a 2019-2020 Penn Kemble Fellow with the National Endowment for Democracy, a member of American Enterprise Institute's Leadership Network and a recipient of America's Future Foundation's 2019 Buckley Award. Learn more: https://www.atlasnetwork.org/our-people/matt-warner

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet?

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

Economics Professor Vincent Geloso joins Chelsea Follett to discuss how freedom makes us more resilient to disease.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/vincent-geloso-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-19-transcript/

Vincent Geloso, Senior Fellow of the Fraser Institute, is an Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University and earned his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. Previously, he was assistant professor of economics at King's University College and Bates College. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Montreal. Learn more: https://vincentgeloso.com/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Psychologist Cory Clark joins Chelsea Follett to discuss why people play the victim and the social costs of false victimhood.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/cory-clark-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-18-transcript/

Victimhood is defined in negative terms: “the condition of having been hurt, damaged, or made to suffer.” Yet humans have evolved to empathize with the suffering of others, and to provide assistance so as to eliminate or compensate for that suffering. Consequently, signaling suffering to others can be an effective strategy for attaining resources. Victims may receive attention, sympathy, and social status, as well as financial support and other benefits. And being a victim can generate certain kinds of power: It can justify the seeking of retribution, provide a sense of legitimacy or psychological standing to speak on certain issues, and may even confer moral impunity by minimizing blame for victims’ own wrongdoings.  

Article: https://quillette.com/2021/02/27/the-evolutionary-advantages-of-playing-victim/

Cory Clark is a social psychologist at University of Pennsylvania. Follow her on Twitter @ImHardcory. Learn more: https://www.coryjclark.com/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Wilfred Reilly, a political scientist and expert on race relations, joins Chelsea Follett to discuss racism in the United States and debunk woke oppression narratives.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/wilfred-reilly-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-17-transcript/

Wilfred Reilly is an American political scientist. He is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Kentucky State University. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Southern Illinois University and a law degree from the University of Illinois. Reilly's research focuses on empirical testing of political claims.

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of Human​Progress​.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐​being by providing free empirical data on long‐​term developments. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

British journalist Madeleine Kearns joins Chelsea Follett to discuss misplaced eco-anxiety's effect on birth rates and why some couples feel they need to choose between parenthood and the planet.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/madeleine-kearns-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-16-transcript/

Madeleine Kearns is from Glasgow, Scotland. She is a staff writer at National Review and a contributor to The Spectator.  She has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail, and many other outlets and often appears on the BBC. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of St. Andrews, a postgraduate diploma in Education from the University of Glasgow, and a master’s degree in Journalism from New York University. She also writes and performs music. Learn more: https://madeleinekearns.com/

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/chelsea-follett

Cato scholar Mustafa Akyol joins Chelsea Follett to discuss Islam's lost liberal tradition and why Muslims should reform the Sharia.  

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/mustafa-akyol-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-15-transcript/

Mustafa Akyol is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, where he focuses on the intersection of public policy, Islam, and modernity. Since 2013, he has also been a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, covering politics and religion in the Muslim world.

Chelsea Follett is the managing editor of HumanProgress.org, a project of the Cato Institute that seeks to educate the public on the global improvements in well‐being by providing free empirical data on long‐term developments.

British biochemist Terence Kealey joins Marian Tupy to discuss the origins of innovation and how to sustain it into the future. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/terence-kealey-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-14-transcript/

Terence Kealey is a professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom, where he served as vice chancellor until 2014.  Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/terence-kealey

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Marian Tupy and John Constable discuss energy policy failure in the UK and the problems with the green agenda. 

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/john-constable-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-13-transcript/

John Constable is a British energy analyst and the GWPF’s energy editor. Amongst his many energy-related publications are The Green Mirage: Why the low carbon economy may be further off than we think (Civitas: London, 2011), Energy Policy and Consumer Hardship (REF: London, 2011), and Shortfall, Rebound, Backfire: Can we rely on energy efficiency to offset climate policy costs? (REF: London, 2012).

Learn more: https://www.thegwpf.org/john-constable-joins-gwpfs-academic-advisory-council/

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

The Human Progress Podcast

RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/57f8d78c/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3bcXVL9iy96dPSJ322CuGj

Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-human-progress-podcast/id1583572211

Marian Tupy and Douglas Carswell discuss Brexit, Covid protectionism, and the danger of "Woke" ideology.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/douglas-carswell-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-12-transcript/

Critics of Brexit often characterize it as a pessimistic and protectionist movement. Carswell argues the opposite–that Brexit was a move towards free trade, self-determination, and internationalism.

A Member of Parliament in Britain for twelve years, Douglas was re-elected every time he stood, and in 2014 achieved one of the largest swings in any election in British history. Douglas co-founded Vote Leave, the official campaign that won the Brexit referendum in Britain. Instrumental in helping ensure that a Brexit referendum was held and won, he switched parties and forced a by-election to help put the issue at the top of the political agenda. Douglas has served as an advisor to the UK government on trade as a non-executive director at the Department of International Trade. He believes that free trade helps drive human progress. Personally inspired by Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Milton Friedman when growing up, Douglas is knowledgeable and passionate about free-markets and individual liberty. He is the author of four books, as well as numerous papers and articles for leading free market think tanks. A Fellow of the John Locke Institute, Douglas sits on the Advisory Council of one of Britain’s leading think tanks, the Institute of Economic Affairs, which has published works by no less than twelve Nobel Prize laureates. Douglas received a BA (Hons) degree in history at the University of East Anglia, before reading for his Masters’ degree at King’s College, University of London.

Learn more: https://mspolicy.org/our-story/

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Renowned author and journalist Michela Wrong outlines the problems facing Africa and the reasons to be hopeful about the continent's future.  

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/michela-wrong-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-11-transcript/

A powerful investigation into a grisly political murder and the authoritarian regime behind it: Do Not Disturb upends the narrative that Rwanda sold the world after one of the deadliest genocides of the twentieth century.

We think we know the story of Africa’s Great Lakes region. Following the Rwandan genocide, an idealistic group of young rebels overthrew the brutal regime in Kigali, ushering in an era of peace and stability that made Rwanda the donor darling of the West, winning comparisons with Switzerland and Singapore. But the truth was considerably more sinister.

Vividly sourcing her story with direct testimony from key participants, Wrong uses the story of the murder of Patrick Karegeya, once Rwanda’s head of external intelligence and a quicksilver operator of supple charm, to paint the portrait of a modern African dictatorship created in the chilling likeness of Paul Kagame, the president who sanctioned his former friend’s assassination.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Do-Not-Disturb-Political-African/dp/1610398424

Half British, half Italian, Michela Wrong has spent nearly two decades writing about Africa. As a Reuters correspondent based in first Cote d'Ivoire and former Zaire, she covered the turbulent events of the mid 1990s, including the fall of Mobutu Sese Seko and Rwanda's post-genocide period. She then moved to Kenya, where she became Africa correspondent for the Financial Times. In 2000 she published her first non-fiction book, "In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz", the story of Mobutu. Her second non-fiction work, "I Didn't Do it for You", focused on the Red Sea nation of Eritrea. Her third, "It's Our Turn to Eat", tracked the story of Kenyan whistleblower John Githongo. "Borderlines", set in a fictional country in the Horn of Africa with a fiercely-disputed border, marked a move into fiction. "Do Not Disturb", which came out in 2021, is a scathing assessment of Rwanda under President Paul Kagame. She lives in London. Learn more: http://michelawrong.com/books/

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Rachel Laudan tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of the world’s great cuisines―from the mastery of grain cooking some twenty thousand years ago, to the present―in this superbly researched book.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Cuisine-Empire-Cooking-History-California/dp/0520286316

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/rachel-laudan-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-10-transcript/

Rachel Laudan is a food historian, an author of the prizewinning Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History.

Learn more: https://www.rachellaudan.com/

Dr. Alan Levinovitz illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies.

Transcript: https://www.humanprogress.org/alan-levinovitz-the-human-progress-podcast-ep-8-transcript/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Natural-Natures-Goodness-Harmful-Science/dp/0807010871

Dr. Levinovitz focuses primarily on the relationship between religion, literature, and science, with particular attention to classical Chinese thought and comparative ethics. His most recent book, Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science, examines the meaning of "natural" and argues that modern Western culture has divinized nature. He is currently working on another book project, The Gentleman and the Jester, which develops a binary typology of ethical education. Other interests include the tension between paratext (introductions, footnotes, etc.) and primary text, the significance of play, and the role of genre in ethical discourse.

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

The modern world is wealthier than ever, but does prosperity actually make us better off?

Matthew Slaboch joins to discuss the question that has troubled philosophers for centuries.

Matthew Slaboch is a Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science at Denison University. Learn more: https://polisci.indiana.edu/documents/profiles/slaboch-cv.pdf

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human
Progress
.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐
being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

The Human Progress Podcast

RSS Feed: https://anchor.fm/s/57f8d78c/podcast/rss

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3bcXVL9iy96dPSJ322CuGj

Apple Podcasts: SOON!

*************  

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet?

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

*************

What are U.S. college students' attitudes towards free speech? What do they know about human progress? And what do they think about capitalism?

Find out in this episode of The Human Progress Podcast with Dr. Clay Routledge.

Dr. Clay Routledge is a psychological scientist, writer, consultant, public speaker, and professor. He studies basic psychological needs and how these needs influence and are influenced by family, social and community bonds, economics, work, and broader cultural worldviews. Much of his research focuses on the need for meaning in life. Learn more: https://youtu.be/u3hOgevJTtY

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human
Progress
.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐
being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet?

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

How did a socialist get elected in Peru, a country that has benefited immensely from market reforms? Why is Latin America as a whole going through such political turmoil? Ian Vásquez joins Marian Tupy to discuss progress and setbacks in Latin America.

Ian Vásquez is vice president for international studies at the Cato Institute and director of its Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity. His articles have appeared in newspapers throughout the United States and Latin America. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/ian-vasquez

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human Progress .org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

*************  

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet?  

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg 

*************

English historian David Starkey discusses the cultural forces that undermine our progress.

In particular, he worries about threats to human freedom and ideologies that deny the existence of objective truth.

David Starkey is Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and the author of many books including Elizabeth'; Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII' and Monarchy: England and Her Rulers from the Tudors to the Windsors'. He is a winner of the WH Smith Prize and the Norton Medlicott Medal for Services to History presented by Britain's Historical Association. He is a well-known TV and radio personality. He was made a CBE in 2007. 

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Political scientist John Mueller discusses how ideas influence everything from human health to war.

It could be said that American foreign policy since 1945 has been one long miscue; most international threats - including during the Cold War - have been substantially exaggerated. The result has been agony and bloviation, unnecessary and costly military interventions that have mostly failed. A policy of complacency and appeasement likely would have worked better. In this highly readable book, John Mueller argues with wisdom and wit rather than ideology and hyperbole that aversion to international war has had considerable consequences. There has seldom been significant danger of major war. Nuclear weapons, international institutions, and America's super power role have been substantially irrelevant; post-Cold War policy has been animated more by vast proclamation and half-vast execution than by the appeals of liberal hegemony; and post-9/11 concerns about international terrorism and nuclear proliferation have been overwrought and often destructive. Meanwhile, threats from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, or from cyber technology are limited and manageable. Unlikely to charm Washington, Mueller explains how, when international war is in decline, complacency and appeasement become viable diplomatic devices and a large military is scarcely required.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Stupidity-War-American-Foreign-Complacency/dp/1108843832

John Mueller is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He is also a member of the political science department and senior research scientist with the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/john-mueller

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

"Historically, liberalism is striving to have a society that exhibits neither discrimination nor domination."

Peter Boettke defends classical liberalism on The Human Progress Podcast.

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Struggle-Better-World-Peter-Boettke/dp/1942951876

In The Struggle for a Better World, Peter J. Boettke explores how the social sciences, and political economy in particular, help us understand society and its institutions of governance. Boettke advances an approach for understanding, articulating, and pursuing a coherent and consistent vision of a society of free and responsible individuals who may prosper through voluntary participation in the market and their communities. In this volume, a collection of addresses, lectures, and papers over the past two decades, Boettke articulates ideas which, if consistently pursued, can help fulfill liberalism's emancipatory promise to advance human flourishing and overcome adversity caused by economic, social, and political injustice and repression. Boettke advocates for liberal cosmopolitanism, grounded in the principles of equality, justice, and liberty, and the basic recognition that all people are dignified equals, as the best hope for a better world.

Peter J. Boettke is a University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University and director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Learn more: https://www.peter-boettke.com/

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human
Progress
.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐
being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa.

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

In his new book, Charles Kenny explains why despite all the gloom and doom, the world is getting better for billions.

Charles Kenny is a senior fellow and the director of technology and development at the Center for Global Development. His current work focuses on gender and development, the role of technology in development, governance and anticorruption and the post-2015 development agenda. He has published articles, chapters and books on issues including what we know about the causes of economic growth, the link between economic growth and broader development, the causes of improvements in global health, the link between economic growth and happiness, the end of the Malthusian trap, the role of communications technologies in development, the ‘digital divide,’ corruption, and progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. He is the author of the book "Getting Better: Why Global Development is Succeeding, and How We Can Improve the World Even More" and “The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Great for the West.” He has been a contributing editor at Foreign Policy magazine and a regular contributor to Business Week magazine. Kenny was previously at the World Bank, where his assignments included working with the VP for the Middle East and North Africa Region, coordinating work on governance and anticorruption in infrastructure and natural resources, and managing a number of investment and technical assistance projects covering telecommunications and the Internet. 

Learn more: https://www.cgdev.org/expert/charles-kenny

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of HumanProgress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. 

Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Your-World-Better-Global-Progress/dp/B08Z9VZZF2/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Your-World-Better-Global-Progress&qid=1620155539&sr=8-1

Marian Tupy and Gale Pooley explain how resources are becoming more abundant alongside population growth.

SImon Project: https://www.humanprogress.org/simonproject/

Gale L. Pooley, PhD is an associate professor of business management at Brigham Young University-Hawaii. Dr. Pooley has taught at Alfaisal University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Boise State University, and the College of Idaho. Dr. Pooley earned his BBA in Economics at Boise State University. He did graduate work at Montana State University and completed his PhD at the University of Idaho. Dr. Pooley serves on the board for HumanProgress.org. Learn more: https://about.byuh.edu/gale-pooley

Marian L. Tupy is the editor of Human Progress.org, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, and coauthor of The Simon Project. He specializes in globalization and global well‐ being and politics and economics of Europe and Southern Africa. Learn more: https://www.cato.org/people/marian-l-tupy

************* 

Want to find HumanProgress.org elsewhere on the internet?   

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/humanprogressorg

Twitter - https://twitter.com/HumanProgress

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/HumanProgressorg

 *************