GoodFellows: Conversations from the Hoover Institution

The Politics Of A Pandemic

Our guest this week is Francis Fukuyama, the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. His new article in Foreign Affairs, "The Pandemic and Political Order” provides the topic for this edition of GoodFellows. The piece poses a slew of intriguing questions and issues that the GoodFellows opine on: What will the world will look like post-COVID-19 pandemic? How will the global economy recover? Does the pandemic mark the end of Reaganism and Chicago School free-market economics? If so, what comes next? Also, why have some countries dealt with the crisis better than others so far, regardless of their political ideologies? Finally, even though the pandemic originated in China, East Asia has generally managed the situation better than Europe or the United States. Does this signal that COVID is shifting the economic tectonic plates under our feet? It’s a fascinating conversation that attempts to peek around the bend and predict what the world may look like over the next 18 to 24 months.

SPECIAL GUEST:

Francis Fukuyama is Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), Mosbacher Director of FSI's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL), and Director of Stanford's Ford Dorsey Master's in International Policy.  He is also professor (by courtesy) of Political Science. Dr. Fukuyama has written widely on issues in development and international politics. His 1992 book, The End of History and the Last Man, has appeared in over twenty foreign editions. His most recent book, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, was published in Sept. 2018.

Recorded June 16, 2020 1PM PT

The End of Empathy

In this special edition of GoodFellows, we’re joined by Roland Fryer, Professor of Economics at Harvard University. His work on education, inequality, and race has been widely cited in media outlets and in Congressional testimony. In this wide ranging conversation on the events of the past 10 days, the GoodFellows (moderated by Niall Ferguson - Bill Whalen is off this week) discuss Roland’s experiences with law enforcement as a teenager, which informed his future work researching the use of force by police departments and the disparities in how it is applied to African Americans. They also discuss one of the more radical proposals stemming from the George Floyd murder: defunding police departments. The implications of enacting that idea are wide-ranging, and the GoodFellows have a lot to say about it.  The conversation then takes up other possible reforms:  changing the organizational culture of police departments, engaging departments more with the communities they police, and improving communication —between the police, citizens, community activists, politicians, and yes, academics-- as our best hope to emerge from this tragedy with a better society. 

SPECIAL GUEST:

Roland G. Fryer, Jr. is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University.  Fryer's research combines economic theory, empirical evidence, and randomized experiments to help design more effective government policies. His work on education, inequality, and race has been widely cited in media outlets and Congressional testimony. Professor Fryer was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal -- given by the American Economic Association to the best American Economist under age 40. Among other honors, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Calvó-Armengol Prize and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. At age 30, he became the youngest African-American to receive tenure at Harvard.His current research focuses on education reform, social interactions, and police use of force.

Recorded June 5, 2020 NOON PT

Carnivorous Moose

Europe’s pandemic recovery includes a divided European Union struggling for consensus on a COVID relief plan. Hoover Senior Fellows Niall Ferguson, H.R. McMaster and John Cochrane discuss the health of the 27-nation EU, whose population surveys as economically progressive, more trusting of authoritarian states and less America-leaning.

Recorded May 26, 2020 1 PM PT

International Man Of History

Imagine the three “GoodFellows” in charge of America’s government—a modern (and democratic) twist on ancient Rome’s triumvirate. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane discuss the coronavirus-related steps they’d take if entrusted with deciding the nation’s health, economic, and geostrategic choices.

Recorded May 19, 2020 1 PM PT

Education, Economics—and Woodpeckers

A simple question for this week: where will we be a year now, assuming the COVID-19 pandemic has been tamed? Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H. R. McMaster debate COVID-19’s lasting effects on the economy, education, and the public’s willingness to risk its health—all while one of the GoodFellows does battle with an invading woodpecker.

Recorded May 11, 2020

A “Wartime” President?

The “war” on COVID-19 continues a trend of affixing that word to life’s miseries (poverty, drugs, cancer). Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson and H.R. McMaster debate whether “war” applies to pandemics, if Donald Trump’s “wartime presidency” is more akin to LBJ’s than FDR’s, plus Joe Biden’s odd fixation with the late Hoover economist Milton Friedman.

Recorded May 5, 2020 1 PM PT

Your Wallet or Your Life?

As the nation’s states start loosening shelter-in-place restrictions developed in response to the coronavirus, governments weigh sometimes conflicting advice from the scientific and business communities. Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H. R. McMaster debate the right balance to strike in restarting a battered economy, COVID-19’s effect on America’s military readiness, and a scenario in which a second pandemic wave strikes shortly before the fall electio strike in restarting a battered economy, COVID-19’s effect on America’s military readiness, and a scenario in which a second pandemic wave strikes shortly before the fall election.

Recorded April 28, 2020 2 PM PT

Cold War 2

If the US-Soviet standoff defined the second half of the 20th century, is a new “cold war” between America and China this generation’s defining economic and geostrategic engagement? Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson and H. R. McMaster debate whether a new cold war indeed is under way and what defines the competition. (Spoiler alert: the three “GoodFellows” are not in agreement.)

Recorded April 21, 2020 1PM PT

A Return to Normalcy?

The question on everyone’s mind: when will society revert to its pre-coronavirus existence, and is such a restoration remotely possible? Hoover senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H. R. McMaster reflect on the various factors—economic policies, governments restoring civil liberties, nations working in tandem, the search for a COVID-19 vaccine—that will lead to the “new normal.”

Recorded April 14, 2020 2PM PT

Rue Britannia?

In this episode of GoodFellows, a Hoover Institution weekly broadcast examining the ramifications of the global COVID-19 pandemic, senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H. R. McMaster exchange their thoughts on why governments fail to anticipate crises, British and European leadership in flux, and the right approach for re-engaging with China.

Recorded April 7, 2020 11AM PT