Has economics fallen to politics? Court economists like Paul Krugman–we might call them "regime economists"–represent a profession in big trouble. Jeff and Bob discuss.

Bob lays out California’s proposed 5% wealth tax on billionaires, using it to explain why taxes on wealth are especially destructive, how different tax structures change incentives, and what recent migration data says about people voting with their feet.

Related:

• Data on 2020–2024 State-to-State Migration: Mises.org/HAP538a
• "Where Americans Choose to Move and Where They Leave": Mises.org/HAP538b

Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/OKCHA

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

Bob talks with Dr. Keith Smith of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma about how posting cash prices, walking away from government money, and working with self-funded employers created an alternative to the cartel of big hospitals and insurers.

Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/OKCHA

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

Bob applies Mises’ taxonomy of money and the regression theorem to Bitcoin, asking whether it should be classified as commodity or fiat money and whether Austrian theory really rules out Bitcoin ever becoming money.

Related:

• Mises's The Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP536a
• Bob's Study Guide to The Theory of Money and Credit: Mises.org/HAP536b
• Bob's Primer on Bitcoin: Mises.org/HAP536c

Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/HAHC

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

Bob responds to James Rickards’ recent tweet on record U.S. gold exports driving an improved trade balance, walking through the official data on non-monetary gold, Trump-era tariff uncertainty, and the broader question of what chronic trade deficits really mean in a post-gold-standard world.

Related:

• The Charts Used in this Episode: Mises.org/HAP535a
• Bob's Recent Talk on Trade Deficits: Mises.org/HAP535b
• Bob's Econlib Article on Oil Prices: Mises.org/HAP535c

Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/HAHC

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

Bob revisits Böhm-Bawerk’s critique of the exploitation theory of interest to answer modern claims that billionaires like Elon Musk must have “stolen” their wealth from workers who supposedly create 100 percent of a firm’s value.

Related:

• Böhm-Bawerk’s Critique of the Exploitation Theory of Interest: Mises.org/HAP534a
• Böhm-Bawerk’s Karl Marx and the Close of His System: Mises.org/HAP534b

Politicians don’t build prosperity. Entrepreneurs do. Join Keith Smith, Caitlin Long, Ryan McMaken, Per Bylund, and Timothy Terrell for our first event of 2026: Mises.org/HAHC

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

Bob talks with Dr. Peter Klein about the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela and the social-media backlash against “international law,” using it as a springboard to clarify what law is, how it can exist without a world government, and why Austrians care about polycentric legal orders.

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree

This week, Bob talks with macroeconomist Roger Farmer—who places himself “between Keynes and Hayek”—about how twentieth-century macroeconomics evolved. They discuss how overlapping generations and search theory change the story on unemployment and asset prices, and where Professor Farmer thinks both neoclassicals and MMT advocates go wrong. Farmer contrasts the old “rocking horse” vision of the economy with his preferred “windy boat” metaphor, where the economy can drift for long periods, and variables like unemployment behave more like random walks than quick returns to a single steady state.

Related:

• Professor Farmer's Article, "How New Keynesian Economics Betrays Keynes": Mises.org/HAP532a

The Mises Institute is giving away 100,000 copies of Hayek for the 21st Century. Get your free copy at Mises.org/HAPodFree