Dr Eamonn Butler is the co-founder of the Adam Smith Institute and has dedicated decades of service in spreading economic freedom. He is the author of several books including 'Foundations of a Free Society', 'The Condensed Wealth of Nations', and 'The Best Book on the Market'.
Our conversation includes his latest book "An Introduction to Schools of Economic Thought". We also coverhis return to Britain to advise the Thatcher administration on market reforms having done so in 1970s for the US House of Representatives.
If you've been unsure of how to distinguish between your Adam Smiths to your Friedrich Hayeks, then this conversation is a great place to start. We also use Eamonn's knowledge of economic theory to discuss the issues of our age - a broken Britain, the absence of risk taking, the flaws of direct democracy, and the law of Economic Rent holding back our youth.
You can find Eamonn's latest book here: https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Schools-of-Thought-Interactive.pdf
This podcast was produced by https://linktr.ee/thisismattcooper with music composed by https://open.spotify.com/artist/6mH930VvONxn76Kqpnixjy.
00:00:00 - The Rotten State of Britain
00:06:34 - Britain’s welfare state
00:10:28 - What got Eamonn into Economics
00:12:30 - Coming back to rescue Britain
00:19:10 - Why big companies hate competition
00:21:30 - Who was Adam Smith
00:24:45 - Schools of Economics Thought
00:33:15 - Hayek, Friedman and Keynes
00:40:15 - Did Marx get anything right?
00:42:17 - What is behavioural economics?
00:46:45 - Why no mention of Georgism in Schools of Economic Thought?
00:57:30 - Why don’t we take risk anymore?
01:10:05 - Is democracy inherently flawed?
01:15:10 - The long bet