The late George P. Shultz, former Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, and the late Robert Conquest, former Stanford Research Fellow and noted Soviet researcher, shared anecdotes about their contacts and experiences with the Soviet Union. Both men were impressed with former Soviet President Gorbachev’s candor and intelligence. During a visit to Stanford to see Shultz, Gorbachev talked about an earthquake in Armenia that was of similar severity to one experienced by San Francisco and how all the buildings in Armenia had fallen down – not so in San Francisco. Gorbachev said, “… we can’t get people to build things …

In 1987, David Horowitz, a political activist, author, and founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, sat down with Bob Chitester to talk about his transformation from far left to far right. Born into a family that were members of the Communist Party USA, he spent his youth attending marches and communist summer camps. In the mid-’80s, Horowitz had a final reckoning with his years of doubts about his affiliation with the left and became a conservative. “The best intentions can lead to the worst results,” he wrote in “The Village Voice” in 1986. “I had believed in the left …

This is the third and final hour of a three-part exchange between the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, and the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. In this segment, von Hayek evaluates economic trends and comments on the direction in which he believed we were heading at the time. Additionally, von Hayek talks about his very brief foray into psychology, writing a book called “The Sensory Order.” Though not well received, it taught him a great deal on the methodology of science. He later wrote that the theory of complex phenomena is equally the product of …

This is the second hour of a three-part exchange between the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, and the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. It encompasses von Hayek’s theories and the many people and events which shaped his thoughts and career. Von Hayek spends some time discussing John Maynard Keynes and he reveals that though they shared space in the field of economics and were good friends, they eventually stopped discussing economics because their philosophies were quite different. Listen to Friedrich von Hayek and Leo Rosten Part II to learn more.

Originally recorded in 1978, this is the first session of a lively and occasionally controversial three-part interview of the late Friedrich von Hayek, economist and Nobel laureate, by the late Leo Rosten, author and social scientist. It is a wide-ranging discussion of von Hayek’s life and work, primarily in the areas of philosophy of science, political philosophy, the free will problem, and epistemology. Hayek created a furor with his book The Road to Serfdom. The book came out at a time when he was a lone voice speaking about the terrible dangers inherent in good and well-intentioned people turning powers …

Originally recorded in 2000, Ronald W. Jones is Xerox Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Rochester, and James Gwartney holds the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University. Gwartney is also a member of the Fraser Institute and is part of the team that puts together the Economic Freedom of the World Annual Report. In this podcast, these two illustrious economists have a lengthy conversation about the concepts of economic freedom and prosperity. Though originally recorded twenty years ago, these concepts are timeless. Does wealth equal economic freedom? Listen in to Economic Freedom and Prosperity …