My interview on the Capital Record Podcast
My conversation with David Bahnsen on the Capital Record Podcast about the religious & moral foundations of market economies, culture, capitalism, innovation, trade-offs, justice, and more
I was honored to be invited to speak with David L. Bahnsen on his podcast, Capital Record at National Review, about my essay The Wonder of the Ordinary, the moral and religious foundations of markets, culture, justice, entrepreneurship, innovation, the importance of trade-offs, and more.
You can listen online, at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Online at National Review (with a much younger picture of me)
Here’s the description of the episode:
David is joined by Michael Matheson Miller of the Acton Institute for what will be a two-part discussion on the very essence of this podcast. Here in Part 1, we unpack the fact that so many of the structures and artifacts that enhance our quality of life, that make market activity possible, are invisible, often becoming “out of sight” and “out of mind” for many of us. But these structures, systems, and conventions are no small thing, as you shall soon see. An absolute core episode that deserves the words, “must listen.”
We discuss a number of things including:
Complexity of seemingly ordinary things
The invisible foundations, institutions, and ideas that make life possible.
Why entrepreneurs emerge in some places and not others — it’s not simply education, a talent for innovation, or some mysterious entrepreneur gene.
The moral foundations of markets — specifically the importance of the Institutions of justice like clear title to land, access to justice in the courts
Hernando de Soto on how the legal systems are simply unfriendly to poor people.
Roger Scruton’s critique of Karl Marx’s idea of freedom
Marianna Mazucatto on the origins of the iPhone + her ideas on the entrepreneurial state and the moonshot economy
On not taking markets for granted
The goodness of being, matter, the de-divinization of nature and hoow this relates to innovation
How Christianity de-sacralizes the state, creates the secular realm, and limits state power.
The impossibility of perfect justice
The importance of recognizing the reality of trade-offs
Joseph Ratzinger Benedict XVI on Jesus’ temptations in the desert
CommutativeJustice
Distributive Justice
A discussion/debate with David about negative impacts of markets and cultural critiques of capitalism and natural law that we will continue in a future episode