Two expert policy communicators walk into a podcast…
One was a rock drummer whose car accident sent him down the road to Milton Friedman. The other, a high school leftist who discovered Reason Magazine and never looked back. Both ended up spending their careers fighting for economic freedom — and neither has stopped since.
Welcome to Episode 3 of From Ideas to Innovation.
In a world where institutions bend their principles with every new administration, consistency is a superpower. Vance Ginn and Richard Morrison have it in abundance.
I’m excited to share with you our recent conversation, where we connect the dots between the ideas they’ve spent decades defending and the real-world outcomes those ideas produce.
About This Episode’s Guest
Vance Ginn, Ph.D. took the long road to economics. A homeschooled kid from Houston, he was an aspiring rock star until a bad car accident changed his trajectory. Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom changed his worldview. Since then he has taught economics at Sam Houston State University, served as Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and worked as Chief Economist in the first Trump administration’s Office of Management and Budget. Today he runs Ginn Economic Consulting and hosts the Let People Prosper show.
Richard Morrison has been at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in various roles since 1999 — rare consistency in a city where people cycle in and out with every administration. As a precocious high school leftist, he stumbled onto Reason Magazine and was captivated. His work at CEI spans economic regulation, climate and energy policy, and FDA reform — unglamorous work, but deeply consequential work that quietly shapes everyday American life. He hosts the Free the Economy podcast where he examines news, policy, and economics of the day.
Together, they bring decades of hard-won experience from the places where economic ideas meet political reality.
What You’ll Take Away
Why real policy innovation is happening at the state level, and why DC is the last place to look for it.
How to maintain principles across administrations while still making an impact.
Why the abundance agenda is a unifying platform, and what gets in the way.
The case against AI doomerism, and a 1957 romantic comedy that predicted everything we’re worried about today.
Why podcasting is one of the most powerful tool for communicating economic ideas to the people who need them most.
Cross-Sector Connection
The laboratory of ideas only works if the people inside it are playing the long game, holding their principles when the political winds shift.
Both Richard and Vance have had seats at the table in Washington and in the states. They’ve watched administrations come and go, seen institutions drift toward whoever is in power, and chosen consistency over convenience. That kind of track record matters enormously for the three sectors this podcast exists to connect.
Researchers and academics produce the ideas that should drive policy, but too often those ideas get filtered through political convenience before they reach decision makers. Richard and Vance model the kind of institutional consistency that keeps good research from being distorted into bad policy.
Policymakers are operating in an environment of rising economic illiteracy and short-term political incentives. This conversation offers something rare: a long view of what actually works, grounded in decades of evidence from the states.
Business leaders and entrepreneurs feel the weight of policy most directly, from overregulation to spending decisions that crowd out private investment, to data center permits that get voted down by uninformed city councils. This episode names those forces clearly and makes the case for getting government out of the way.
The conversation doesn't end here. I hope it sparks your curiosity and gives you a place to start.
Related Listening
One of the things we talk about in this episode is why podcasting has become such a powerful tool for learning, asking questions, and exploring ideas that don’t always make it into white papers or op-eds.
I asked both Richard and Vance about their favorite podcasts — so it’s only fair I return the favor. Below are a few of my favorite episodes from their shows, hand-picked to help you go deeper on the topics we covered today.
Crushing Capitalism with Norbert Michel | Free the Economy
Harnessing AI for Human Flourishing with Kevin Frazier | Let People Prosper
Economic Ideas for American Workers with Ryan Young | Free the Economy
Fiscal Responsibility Isn’t Optional with Dr. Veronique DeRugy | Let People Prosper
Heroes of Progress with Alexander Hammond | Free the Economy
Debunking the Myths of Capitalism with Dr. Don Boudreaux | Let People Prosper
Population and Abundance with Gale Pooley | Free the Economy
Unlocking Prosperity: Stories of Freedom and Reform with Dr. Matt Mitchell | Let People Prosper
I’ve also been a two-time episode guest on both of their shows.
Next Time…
I hope you’ll tune in for my next conversation in two weeks. I’m sitting down with Alexander McCobin, CEO of Liberty Ventures Network, to discuss supporting business owners who are aligned with the principles of capitalism and liberty.
In the meantime, please subscribe and share the episode with a colleague who will find the topic interesting.
