Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Seminar: Philosophy and the Evolution of the Mixed Economy

One of my talks at Francisco Marroquín University was on making sense of our mixed economy–an unwieldy combination of market and socialist elements. The 28-minute talk integrates themes from my intellectual heroes–Smith, Mill, Mises, Hayek, Rand, Popper, Friedman, Buchanan, and Tullock–and connects market economics, politics, ethics, history, and public choice to explaining our semi-coherent mixed economy. The flowchart worked through is online here.

Related:
The above talk at UFM’s site.
The flowchart: Pathologies of the mixed economy (or, How we got into this frackin’ mess).
The previous talk referred to at the beginning: Seminar on entrepreneurial ethics.
Interview with UFM’s Luis Figueroa on Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Business in Argentina — interview with Fernández and Sarano

Federico Fernández and Martin Sarano of Argentina’s Bases Foundation spoke at Rockford College on the challenging political economy of Argentina and its impact on current business. A century ago Argentina’s economy was in the top ten in the world, but has declined significantly. Doingbusiness.org currently ranks Argentina ranked 115th.

In the interview we talk about Argentina’s general economic malaise, its history of pragmatic authoritarianism, the ethical challenges caused by a culture of bribery and rent-seeking, and the paradox of freedom in an over-regulated economy but with an often-incompetent bureaucracy.

Part I:

Part II:

Interview with Timothy Sandefur

Timothy Sandefur gave a talk at Rockford College on September 16 on “Market Entrepreneurs and Political Entrepreneurs: Some Legal and Constitutional Issues.” Mr. Sandefur is Senior Staff Attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation in California. His talk was sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.

In the following two-part interview after his talk, I speak with Mr. Sandefur about the contrasting views of the Founding Fathers and the Progressives on liberty, democracy, and human rights, how the Progressive agenda has led to an increase in political entrepreneurship, and philosophy’s role in reforming in our politicized economic system.

Part I:

Part II:

This interview is also available at the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship’s site. More interviews with CEE’s guest speakers are available here.