In this podcast Russell Roberts, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and EconTalk host, discusses, with Daron Acemoglu of MIT and author (with James Robinson) of Why Nations Fail, the ideas in the book: why some nations fail and others succeed, why some nations grow over time and sustain that growth and others grow and then stagnate. Acemoglu draws on an exceptionally rich set of examples over space and time to argue that differences in institutions—political governance and the inclusiveness of the political and economic system—explain the differences in economic success across nations and over time.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Professor Emeritus William J. Perry has long been educating people about the threat of nuclear disaster. His latest effort is a free online course that includes some of the world’s foremost nuclear experts.

Admiral Stockdale looks back at his ten years in Vietnam. Ranging in subject from methods of communication in prison to military ethics to the principles of leadership, the thirty-four selections contained in this volume are a unique record of what their author calls a "melting experience," a pressure-packed existence that forces one to grow.

The Hoover Institution hosts The United States, China, and Taiwan—A Strategy to Prevent War on Thursday, April 15 from 9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. PT. Robert Blackwill and Philip Zelikow introduce their recent report on the growing danger of war between China and the United States over Taiwan and propose a new US strategy to prevent it. Following their presentation, Hoover Institution fellows General James Mattis (ret.) and Admiral James Ellis (ret.) will offer remarks.

Jacquelyn Schneider, Hoover Fellow at the Hoover Institution, discussed “A No-First-Use Cyber Policy? The Solution to the U.S. Two Threshold Cyber Strategy Problem.”

In the final episode of the series for 2020, Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson, H. R. McMaster, and John Cochrane reflect on lessons learned from the pandemic, Donald Trump’s future, the ruinous state of the Golden State, how society will differ in 2021, plus what gets them through their daily routines—a mixtape of UK punk, Philly-brand funk, and the soothing sounds of “Sweet Baby James” Taylor.

Since the 18th Party Congress in late 2012, CMC Chairman and CCP supremo Xi Jinping has sought to aggressively confront PLA corruption using classic Mao-era methods, including “mass-line educational campaigns” designed to “rectify work style” through criticism and self-criticism. These organizational techniques, combined with discipline inspections and control of the personnel promotion system, allow Xi to quickly place his stamp upon the PLA, though they will not likely root out the deep structural causes of military corruption in the system.

Hoover Institution fellow Kori Schake discusses national security challenges for the new administration.

The Manhattan Institute hosted a banquet in New York City in honor of John Taylor, the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University, who has been named this year’s recipient of the prestigious Hayek Prize for his book First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America’s Prosperity (W.W. Norton 2012). “The Hayek Prize, which carries an award of $50,000, is one of the country's most significant book awards. It was established by the Manhattan Institute to recognize a work published within the previous two years that best reflects F.A. Hayek's vision of personal liberty and economic freedom,” stated James Piereson, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, chairman of the Hayek Prize Committee and president of the William E. Simon Foundation.