The Henry George School Podcast

Today’s discussion comes from our 2025 Annual Conference, The Rise of AI and Automation. For the next 8 weeks, we’ll feature a series of panel discussions from our Annual Conference. We’ll begin with our keynote address from Ed Harrison, followed by 4 talks on AI and Labor; AI Ethics; Practical Applications of AI, and finish with AI and Inequality.

Today’s discussion is the beginning of our Annual Conference content, featuring our keynote speaker, Fred Harrison.

Mr. Harrison received his bachelor’s from Oxford University and his master’s from the Uni...

For today’s episode, we decided to do things a little differently. Instead of our normal one-on-one with the floor open to the audience, today’s episode will be a roundtable discussion between our host, Josh Sidman, who is joined by Teun van Sambeek, George Lovegrove, Michael Meehan, and Will Ruddick.

Our guests today have a wealth of knowledge on today’s discussion. Teun van Sambeek is the founder of the 1coinH, an alternative money concept; George Lovegrove is the founder of the Web3 Association; Michael Meehan is an entrepreneur and web developer; and Will R...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman sat down with George Lovegrove to discuss demurrage within cryptocurrency networks.

Mr. Lovegrove is a software developer and Web3 proponent. He is the Founder of the Web3 Association, an organization that writes about cryptocurrencies and contributionism. George believes the best way to reduce the shortcomings of the current fiat-currency-based monetary system is to improve the incentives and governance models around cryptocurrencies. He has extensive experience as a software developer, working at places such as Amazon, Dyzio, and Good Innovation. George earned his bachelor’s degree in Information Tech...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman sat down with Willem Buiter to discuss the dynamics of monetary systems. Our conversation was held and recorded in June of 2025.

Dr. Buiter is an economist, commentator, author, and consultant. Formerly, he was Chief Economist and Special Counsel to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, a European multilateral development institution similar to the World Bank. Dr. Buiter also served as an External Member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee. From 2010 to 2018, he was the Chief Global Economist at Citigroup, and rema...

Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School and was recorded in May of 2025.

Today’s episode is part one of a two-part series on the state of the US economy. This is a long-running series Ed does here at the school to inform listeners of the status of everyday Americans.

Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University, where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During hi...

Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School, and was recorded in May of 2025.

Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and how it can reduce inequality...

“Show me the incentives and I’ll show you the outcome”. These were the wise words of the late Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s former business partner. What he meant by that was that if you incentivize good and productive business behavior, your business will grow. If you reward bad and unproductive behavior, your business and, ultimately, the consumer, will suffer. Since the 1980s, the economic and legal frameworks we’ve used have incentivized bad behavior. Today, we’ll discuss Shareholder Primacy, which is the idea that a firm’s primary responsibility is to maximize value for its shareholders. Its proponents...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Phillip Ullmann. Our conversation was held and recorded in May of 2025.

Mr. Ullman is a social entrepreneur known for founding businesses that are beneficial to local communities. He is the Chief Energizer of Cordant Group, a recruiting company that takes a holistic approach to sourcing executives. In 2017, Phillip restructured the company to become a social business, capping executive salaries and putting a limit on dividend distributions. The Cordant Group was subsequently sold in 2020 to the Recruitment Company, where Mr. Ullman still remains involved. He is...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Clive Menzies. Our conversation took place, and was recorded in May of 2025.

Mr. Menzies is a political economist and former business executive. He has established multiple companies and led many projects to implement his philosophy of distributed, autonomous, codependent self-organisation (DACSO). Many of these endeavors focus on making information and resources open-sourced, similar to software and coding. Clive is currently a Polymathic Explorer for InvisibleUniverse, a website that promotes DASCO philosophy via writings and video.

Together, we discussed Clive’s ex...

Part of the reason why we wanted to start the Rethinking Economics series is that I think many aspects of economics, economic thinking, and economic institutions need reforming. And one of the main areas where this reform needs to happen is antitrust. Antitrust has become a popular and, as of late, bipartisan issue. Antitrust laws give the government power to regulate, manage competition, prevent monopolies, and stop harm to consumers. Antitrust powers were first vested with the government with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, when businesses first began to reach their “giant” status. After 1890, there were some pretty substantive refo...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Michael Linton. Today’s episode was recorded in April of 2025.

Mr. Linton is the inventor of the Local Exchange Trade System (LETS) model, an alternative exchange system controlled by communities. Michael created LETS in the 1980s in Comex Valley, in British Columbia. Ever since then, he has focused on system design for community economics, having started other systems in British Columbia and in other places around the world. In the LETS system, information and transactions are recorded by a centralized body within the community. In t...

Today's discussion is hosted by Ibrahima Drame,  our Director of Education, who is joined by Oriane Roty. Our conversation was recorded on April of 2025.

Ms. Roty is a Ph.D candidate at the Cultural and Discursive Interactions department of the University of Tours in France. She is part of a French Research agency-funded project called the Trust Issues Project, which brings together a multidisciplinary group of researchers to study community land trusts (CLTs) and how they can be adopted in France. Much of her research analyzes the evolution of law around CLTs in response t...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Teun van Sambeek. Our conversation took place, and was recorded in, April of 2025.

Mr. van Sambeek is an IT professional and entrepreneur. After founding multiple companies, he decided to move to Africa to begin building affordable housing. This led to the founding of Bentoniq, a real estate development company that mass produces affordable housing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Teun is also the founder of the 1coinH system, an alternative monetary system. He received two master’s: one in real estate development from the University of Amst...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Cameron Sajedi, and was recorded in March of 2025.

Mr. Sajedi is a computer and geoscientist with lots of experience in the blockchain world. Cameron believes that with proper architecture, blockchain can be used to increase collaboration and decentralize decision-making within organizations. This led him to start his own company, Starling Foundries. Starling Foundries is a software and programming firm that tries to create collaborative software by mimicking patterns in nature. He is also an advocate of alternative monetary systems, which is what led him to...

Dr. Martin Jacobson is a political philosopher who specializes in what he calls left-libertarian philosophy. Martin sees Georgism as a fusion of libertarian and progressive philosophy that translates to a version of libertarianism centered on land access as a solution to systemic inequalities. What really interested me about Martin’s work on Henry George was his ability to advance progressive ends with libertarian means, while exploring the relationship between these two ideologies. His dissertation was titled Land & Liberty: On the Natural Monopoly of Violence. Being an American, I think most libertarians we come across are more like the anarcho-libertarians Dr...

Mr. Shafarman has been a universal basic income (UBI) proponent since the 1980s. He is the program director of Basic Income Action and a member of Basic Income Earth Network, two non-profits dedicated to promoting the implementation of UBI. He is also the author of several books: Basic Income Imperative, Our Future, We the People, and many more, all of which focus on the benefits of UBI. Steve earned his bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Psychology, and Human Development from Colby College.

Together, we discussed the specifics of how UBI would need to be implemented...

Starting this week, we’re taking a short spring break, but don’t worry—we’ll return in two weeks, April 3rd to be more precise, with more great conversations. In the meantime, why not use this break to spark your creativity?

Along with our break, we wanted to announce The Henry George School of Social Science 2025 Writing and Video Contests are officially open! This is your chance to dive into big ideas, challenge perspectives, and share your voice. Whether you’re a writer or a visual storyteller, there’s a category for you. Plus, there are cash...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School and was recorded in February of 2025.

Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective on land use and reform, and ho...

Today's discussion focussed on the life and work of Thomas Paine. Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School and was recorded in January of 2025.

Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics degree. Ed worked for Fannie Mae, a public-private partnership to help distribute home mortgage loans. During his time at Fannie Mae, Mr. Dodson held numerous management and analyst positions within the Housing & Community Development group, helping revitalize neighborhoods and local communities. This gives him an interesting perspective...

Today's discussion came from our Martin Luther King Day celebration and was recorded in January of 2025. Our talk is hosted by Ed Dodson, a long-time faculty member here at the Henry George School.

To celebrate Black History Month, we wanted to pause our regular content and give our listeners a special episode on the political economy of Martin Luther King, Jr., exploring Dr. King’s intellectual evolution, and how it impacted his solutions to addressing poverty.

Mr. Dodson attended Shippensburg University and Temple University where he received an economics de...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Dr. Will Ruddick.

Dr. Ruddick is a development economist specializing in currency innovation. Before shifting his focus to economics and development, he conducted graduate research in high-energy physics as a collaboration member at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Since 2008, he has lived in East Africa, leading initiatives in environmental sustainability, food security, and economic development.

His work centers on Community Inclusion Currencies (CICs) as a tool for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Since 2010, he has pioneered CIC programs in Kenya, founding the Sa...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Stef Kuypers.

Mr. Kuypers is a behavioral and monetary economist pursuing his PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Before he began his intellectual journey in economics, Stef led a successful career in the IT industry. After his work in IT, Stef began to do in-depth research on economics and monetary systems. This led him to join the board of Happonomy, a non-profit dedicated to helping individuals, businesses, and governments improve living standards. His PhD focuses on comparative monetary systems, and how society can use mo...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Patri Friedman.

Patri is a libertarian and anarcho-capitalist thinker and activist. He began his career in computer science and coding but eventually shifted towards grander ambitions. Trying to find a society that adhered to his libertarian values, Patri began to experiment with the creation of new cities. This led to his founding of the Seasteading Institute, a non-profit dedicated to building floating communities on water. Leveraging his knowledge and passion for seasteading, Mr. Friedman works as a Partner at Zarco Investment Group and Pronomos, bo...

For today’s episode, host Josh Sidman is joined by Tim Jenkin.

Tim Jenkin is a South African anti-apartheid activist, author, and technologist. He earned a Bachelor of Social Science degree from the University of Cape Town in 1973, where he became politically active by distributing banned literature critical of apartheid. Jenkin later joined the African National Congress (ANC) in London, receiving training in propaganda tactics and covert operations. In 1978, his anti-apartheid activities led to his arrest and a 12-year prison sentence. Jenkin continued working with the ANC in exile, after an escape from prison, an...

Economy 2.0, which launched November 12 in collaboration with The Silvio Gesell Foundation, is a monthly series that investigates these pressing questions. Each episode will feature thought leaders, economists, and forward-thinking experts sharing their perspectives on the future of the global economy and the path forward.

In the inaugural episode, host Josh Sidman will sit down with Prof. Steve Keen to explore what a post-status quo world might look like.

Dr. Keen received his bachelor's degree from the University of Sydney and went on to complete his master's and Ph.D. in Economics and...

The Great Debate will host two guests to debate a certain point or issue. In this show, we look to go deeper into this issue to attain a comprehensive understanding of both points of view. Through logic and reasoning, we hope you arrive at a well-informed conclusion on some of the most relevant and pressing issues defining our time. 

For our inaugural episode, we hosted Mr. Tom Rossman and Mr. James Cusick.

Mr. Rossman is a financier and investor, who specializes in developing nations and emerging markets. Throughout his c...

Today’s discussion was recorded in October of 2024 between our host, Ed Dodson, and our guest, Dr. Jason Barr.

Dr. Barr is a professor at Rutgers University-Newark and a fellow at NYU’s Marron Institute, where he researches real estate, urban economics, and the economics of skyscrapers. Dr. Barr is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Real Estate Finance and the Eastern Economic Journal. He is also the author of two books: Cities in the Sky and Building the Skyline, both of which examine the economic justifications and appeal of constructing large urba...

Today’s discussion was recorded in October of 2024 and was held with Dr. Branko Milanovic.

Dr. Milanovic is a senior scholar at the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality and one of the leading scholars on income inequality in the world.  He worked as a lead economist at the World Bank’s research department for 20 years, and as a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has held numerous professorships at universities such as the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, London School of Economics, and the New School, where he currently teach...

Today’s discussion was recorded in November 2024 and is with Mr. Jamal Thomas, the first-place winner of our 2024 Annual Writing Contest.

Mr. Thomas is a college student at El Camino College, where he studies electrical engineering. He spent approximately six years in the United States Navy as a Nuclear Machinist Mate. He is also a member of California Common Ground to advocate community and state-wide political change.

Together, we discussed Mr. Thomas’s idea for a more equitable banking system, and how it could fund universal basic income.

Today’s discussion was recorded in November 2024 and is with Mr. Paul Forrester, the second-place winner of our 2024 Annual Writing Contest. 

Mr. Forrester is a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University's philosophy department where he researches ethics, political philosophy, and how institutions make economic cooperation more feasible. He has authored several papers, including The Desire Machine, New Argument for Uniqueness about Evidential Support, Concurrent Awareness Desire Satisfactionism, and many others. Mr. Forrester earned his bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Political Science from Duke University. 

Together, we discussed a dialog...

Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving! We hope all of you are doing well and get to spend the holiday with your family and loved ones. The Henry George School podcast will be on break this week for the holiday, but don’t worry, we’ll be back next Thursday with more of the the great content you’ve come to expect from us. Until then, happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy the day, wherever you are.

Today’s episode will be the last of a part of a 3-part series where I, your host, Nathan Greene, interview a group of my current professors here at Clark University. 

I was first introduced to the concept of development in my economic growth and development course at St. John’s University. There, we explored how economic growth led to improvements in living standards that allowed people to achieve their full potential. This is what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen calls his capability approach: when societies are able to produce the conditions necessary for people to fl...

Today’s episode will be part of a 3-part series where I, your host, Nathan Greene, interview a group of my current professors here at Clark University. 

I was first introduced to the concept of development in my economic growth and development course at St. John’s University. There, we explored how economic growth led to improvements in living standards that allowed people to achieve their full potential. This is what Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen calls his capability approach: when societies are able to produce the conditions necessary for people to flourish.

...

Today’s episode will be part of a 3-part series where I, your host, Nathan Greene, interview a group of my current professors here at Clark University. 

I want to preface this series by asking you what you think development is. Currently, I’m in my last semester of a master’s in International Development at Clark University, where I’ve begun to question my own assumptions of what development is. 

I was first introduced to this concept of development in my economic growth and development course at St. John’s Uni...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. This is the final panel of our conference content on the polycrisis afflicting the globe. Thus far, we have discussed the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which was then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will now conclude with different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is part of our fourth and final panel, “The Policy Options.”...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. This is the penultimate panel of our conference content on the polycrisis afflicting the globe. Thus far, we have discussed the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which was then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will now conclude by with different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is part of our fourth and final panel, “The Policy Opt...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. For the next two weeks, our discussions will revolve around the polycrisis afflicting the globe with four subtopics. The first will be the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which will then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will conclude by discussing different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is part of our third panel, “Recalibrating the Advocacy o...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. For the next seven weeks, our discussions will revolve around the polycrisis afflicting the globe with four subtopics. The first will be the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which will then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will conclude by discussing different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is part of our third panel, “Recalibrating the Advocacy o...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. For the next eight weeks, our discussions will revolve around the polycrisis afflicting the globe with four subtopics. The first will be the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which will then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will conclude by discussing different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is part of our second panel, "Is the Georgist...

Today’s discussion comes from our most recent annual conference “Existential Crises: Is the Georgist Paradigm Part of the Solution?” and was recorded in July of 2024. For the next nine weeks, our discussions will revolve around the polycrisis afflicting the globe with four subtopics. The first will be the four most important crises, followed by how Georgism can alleviate these crises, which will then be followed by how to make Georgism more politically palatable, and will conclude by discussing different Georgist policy solutions.

Today’s panelist is Dr. Kris Feder. Dr. Feder is a recently...