F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics

08/28/2026

In the first of a two-part series, Peter Boettke and Virgil Storr reflect on Don Lavoie’s legacy as both a mentor and a scholar. They remember his commitment to being “an intellectual interlocutor” and “honest in dialogue,” and his belief in the value of freedom.

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In the first of a two-part series, Peter Boettke and Virgil Storr reflect on the legacy of Don Lavoie as both a mentor and sc

08/25/2026

In 2021, having completed his PhD and started as a tenured assistant professor at the National University of Political Science and Public Administration (SNSPA), David applied for the James Buchanan Fellowship. He was looking for that intellectual curiosity "I think meeting some other guys that are in a way similar to myself. I think the type of networking and connection and intellectual connection between me and similar peers."

Buchanan Alum David Diaconu shares his Mercatus Fellowship Story. https://loom.ly/QXC-plo

08/24/2026

"By elevating the perceived urgency of the conversation, political leaders can shift deliberation from a problem-solving inquiry to verbal combat against an enemy. Vincent Ostrom was very concerned about how we use language: It can enable us to seek common understanding and solve problems together. But by conflating social problems with warfare, we place barriers in the way of common understanding and problem solving."

—Nathan Goodman via Guns, Guards, and Governance

Vincent Ostrom on how militarism "places democracies at risk"

08/21/2026

On this episode, Peter Boettke sits down with Bryan Cheang to discuss liberalism and development in Southeast Asia. They explore how different schools of thought can deepen our understanding of economic growth, challenge simplistic narratives of Asian development, and consider how economists can better incorporate culture into their analysis.

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Peter Boettke sits down with Bryan Cheang, discussing unveiling liberalism in Southeast Asia.

08/20/2026

In Part 2 of "Adam Smith, the American Founding and the Political Problem of Wealth," Brianne Wolf examines two historical debates over wealth and political power in the early American republic.

The first debate, between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, concerned the place of aristocracy in republican government. Adams sought institutional means of containing the political influence of wealth, while Jefferson placed greater confidence in citizens’ ability to distinguish a natural aristocracy of virtue and talent from an artificial aristocracy of wealth and birth.

The second, between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, concerned whether the institutions of the Constitution could adequately check elite power, or whether those institutions would instead facilitate political domination by the wealthy.

These disagreements reflected a broader problem that also occupied Adam Smith: how political institutions might constrain wealth from becoming a source of political privilege and cronyism.

As Wolf writes, Smith and the founding generation “all disagreed on the best way to prevent cronyism or the emergence of an oligarchy or plutocracy.”

Check out her article here

July 26, 2024 How do you make sure bad people do not end up in control of necessary institutions? How do you make sure that good people can rise to positions of leadership that require virtue? The American founders struggled and arguing and learned from each other as well as from thoughtful predeces...

08/19/2026

On this episode, Peter Boettke sits down with Brianne Wolf to explore Adam Smith’s enduring relevance for liberalism, political economy, and contemporary debates about markets and democracy.

Their conversation ranges from Wolf's book project, "Beyond Rights and Price: Liberalism with Taste," changing student attitudes toward inequality, expertise, and democracy, to the relationship between the Scottish Enlightenment and the American founding.

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On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke sits down with Brianne Wolf to explore Adam Smith’s endurin

08/18/2026

08/17/2026

"Friedman’s methodology essay is one of those rare papers which is simply referred to by its year of publication: F-53. It is notorious for its supposed anti-realism and the claim that the realism of one’s assumptions does not matter. As long as the model predicts well, anything goes. A lot has been said about the paper, most of all by economic methodologists who have never been able to escape the specter of Milton’s arguments. But reading more and more Chicago material I am struck by the fact that Milton’s friends did not actually like the argument much."

—Erwin Dekker via Seeing Like Chicago

Or why Chicagoans did not like Milton's argument

08/14/2026

In the final installment of a three-part series on academia and libertarianism, Peter Boettke and David Prychitko discuss the influence of their edited volume "The Market Process," the role of disagreement within the economics profession, and the work of their mentor, Paul Heyne.

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In the final installment of a three-part series on academia and libertarianism, Peter Boettke and David Prychitko finish thei

08/13/2026

Adam Smith is often portrayed as a defender of laissez-faire and the pursuit of wealth. But his writings reveal a more complicated concern: How does economic inequality shape political power?

Brianne Wolf examines Smith’s account of wealth alongside the American founders, arguing that both recognized the dangers of concentrated wealth as simultaneously moral-psychological and political-economic. Smith worried that our tendency to admire the rich could distort moral judgment, while also recognizing that wealth could be translated into political influence, privileged access, and institutions that protect entrenched interests.

Yet Smith’s answer was not simply to eliminate inequality. Instead, he emphasized institutional constraints: the rule of law, freer trade, limits on privilege and monopoly, greater public contributions from the wealthy, and policies that expand the capabilities of the least advantaged.

The result is a Smith who speaks directly to enduring debates over inequality, oligarchy, and the relationship between economic and political power.

July 17, 2024 ... for Smith, and most of the founders, the moral psychological problem of wealth is not something that can be resolved, and so each suggest institutional solutions to the problem. Smith, in particular, focuses on political economic solutions or institutions to address the potential d...