- Economics
- Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
America, a land rich in growth and prosperity but also blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, faces a quandary: how to keep its economy flourishing while at the same time safeguarding its environment. It’s the topic of the Hoover Institution’s upcoming Markets vs. Mandates Conference. Terry Anderson, Hoover Institution John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow (adjunct) and one of the founders of “free-market environmentalism”, discusses what’s on the agenda at the Hoover symposium (tariffs, AI, federal-to-state regulatory shifts) and why tradeoffs are the key to America’s future, be it protecting resources, meeting energy needs and keeping the nation on the cutting edge of technology. Anderson points to different regions of the US where markets and mandates butt heads, including his native Montana and nearby Wyoming, Virginia’s embrace of energy-guzzling data centers, and a potential lithium bonanza in the Carolinas and parts of New England.
April 30, 2026.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Terry L. Anderson, the Hoover Institution’s John and Jean De Nault Senior Fellow (adjunct), is one of the founders of “free-market environmentalism” – the idea of using markets and property rights to solve environmental problems. Anderson is a past president of the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, MT, and a professor emeritus at Montana State University.
Bill Whalen is the Virginia Hobbs Carpenter Distinguished Policy Fellow in Journalism at the Hoover Institution. In addition to serving as the moderator of Goodfellows, he also hosts Hoover’s Matters of Policy & Politics podcast, which spotlights the work of Hoover fellows. Whalen writes and comments on campaigns, elections and governance, with an emphasis of California and America’s political landscapes, and contributes to Hoover’s California on Your Mind and Defining Ideas web channels.
RELATED SOURCES
- Learn more about Markets Vs. Mandates at the Hoover Institution
- Markets Vs. Mandates: Promoting Environmental Quality and Economic Prosperity on May 12, 2026
ABOUT THE SERIES
Matters of Policy & Politics, a podcast from the Hoover Institution, examines the direction of federal, state, and local leadership and elections, with an occasional examination of national security and geopolitical concerns, all featuring insightful analysis provided by Hoover Institution scholars and guests.
