In the first Econception episode of the year, I go on a wide-ranging discussion of government welfare programs. It’s based on my piece for Fusion magazine about free-market principles for the welfare state. The work of Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, and Milton Friedman gives conservatives a lot to chew on about welfare programs, and that’s where I base my thoughts.

Next, I talk about congestion pricing in theory and in practice. There’s an economic case for it, but what New York City has done is not in accordance with that case. It’s really just another tax to fund an unaccountable public-transit agency that already spends too much.

Then, there are the bad incentives of the Endangered Species Act. If activists discover an endangered species, they gain enormous power to stop major construction projects, and sometimes inventing a species can be just as effective as finding a real one.

Please listen and subscribe to Econception, my podcast with the American Institute for Economic Research, by clicking here.