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GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History & Geopolitics

Hoover Institution

100 episodes

GoodFellows: Conversations on Economics, History, & Geopolitics is a flagship videocast from the Hoover Institution where senior fellows John Cochrane, Niall Ferguson, and H.R. McMaster cut through the noise, challenge conventional wisdom, and explain what’s driving markets, power, and public policy. Drawing on rigorous economic analysis, deep historical perspective, and national security leadership at the highest levels, these leading thinkers deliver clear, trusted insight into the challenges facing the United States while debating the forces shaping the modern world.

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  1. Boomers, Burners, and Flying Cars with Cal Newport | GoodFellows

    · 1 h 07 min · Episode 192

    While the public clamors for some semblance of government regulation of the burgeoning artificial intelligence sector, the question remains: how to prevent doom scenarios without compromising the industry’s innovative…

  2. National Treasures, October Surprises, and Silly Walks with Michael Auslin

    · 1 h 07 min · Episode 191

    Much like the fragile parchment on which a new republic’s principles and grievances were outlined, America’s Declaration of Independence endures to this day – quite the accomplishment given a Continental Congress…

  3. Taiwan’s Slow Squeeze, Ukraine’s Long War

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 190

    America’s complicated relationship with China doesn’t lack for subplots – tariffs, territorial designs, human rights and espionage. But does the superpowers’ Cold War-like competition over artificial intelligence…

  4. California’s War on Wealth—and America’s War on Terror

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 189

    The rubber meets the road in California this fall when a proposed one-time 5% tax on the state’s billionaire class – wealth taxes being a longtime progressive hobby horse – faces a public vote in the form of…

  5. Endless Summer: Iran, Woke Two?, and the George Costanza Theory of War

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 188

    On the latest GoodFellows: Is economic strangulation the key to achieving Iranian cooperation, or another misstep in the Persian Gulf? Is a sequel to “Woke 1” in the works? And does playing the race card in the…

  6. Complicated Legacy: Jay Bhattacharya on Fauci, RFK, and Vaccines

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 187

    Jay Bhattacharya returns to GoodFellows—now as NIH director and acting CDC director—for a candid conversation on what COVID got wrong, why science needs a replication revolution, and how to restore public trust. Jay…

  7. Trump Slump, Capitalism vs. Communism, and Old Man Yells at Claude

    · 59 min · Episode 186

    After a productive first 100 days after returning to office, President Trump has since hit a rough patch – stubborn inflation (despite an otherwise powerhouse economy), an unpopular war with Iran, setbacks at the…

  8. The Empire Strikes Out: Rick Atkinson on 1776, Is Britain Broken?, and Socialists in New York

    · 1 h 09 min · Episode 185

    On paper, it was a mismatch: a fledgling republic seeking freedom from the world’s mightiest empire. And yet the American Revolution ended with the upstart colonists’ victory over the mighty British military. Rick…

  9. Trump’s 14 Points: Epic Fury or Epic Fail?

    · 47 min · Episode 184

    As the US and Iran prepare to sign a memorandum of understanding halting hostilities in the Middle East, will the agreement hold up for long given fundamental differences over Iran’s nuclear ambitions (another 60 days…

  10. From Arsenal to Zelenskyy: The GoodFellows Answer Viewer Mail

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 183

    In a special “mailbag” episode, Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster answer audience questions. Among the topics (after a brief opening segment devoted to the latest in the Iran-US…

  11. “Deciders”, “Honey Badgers”, and “Lonely Liberals”: Sarah Isgur on a Divided Supreme Court

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 182

    Is it time to rethink the configuration of the US Supreme Court – not nine justices divided along lockstep ideological lines, but three groups of three justices, each clique with a different approach to jurisprudence?…

  12. GoodFellows LIVE: The US Constitution and A Republic - If You Can Keep It | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 18 min · Episode 181

    As part of the Hoover Institution’s ongoing USA@250 celebration of the founding of the American republic, a live GoodFellows episode recorded on the campus of Stanford University focusing on the US Constitution – in…

  13. Who’s Actually Running Iran? with Abbas Milani | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 07 min · Episode 180

    Hoover Institution research fellow and Iran scholar Abbas Milani joins the GoodFellows to discuss life within the beleaguered theocracy: who’s in charge, and will added economic pressure in the form of a blockade of…

  14. Locusts and Pirates: What’s Your Favorite Recession? with Tyler Goodspeed | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 07 min · Episode 179

    If unexpected wars and oil shocks have been big features of recent history, so too are economic recessions – another downturn perhaps ahead in 2026. Tyler Goodspeed, a former Hoover Institution fellow and author of the…

  15. Dire Straits: Condoleezza Rice on The War with Iran | Hoover Institution

    · 58 min · Episode 178

    Does the current conflict in the Middle East suggest that America has learned from its recent past wars? Hoover Institution Director and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joins GoodFellows regulars Sir…

  16. Gulf War III Or Cold War II: Iran Truth And Consequences | Hoover Institution

    · 32 min · Episode 177

    A week into US and Israeli military operations against Iran, where does the conflict stand? GoodFellows regulars Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane and H.R. McMaster discuss the odds of hostilities expanding, what the…

  17. Iran, Tariffs, Epstein | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 58 min · Episode 176

    As his self-proclaimed 10-day window for dealing with Iran approaches its end, what are President Trump’s options? GoodFellows regulars Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster weigh the merits of a US military…

  18. The Origins of Modern China; Is Trump “Lost”? America, Home of the . . . Squatters? | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 51 min · Episode 175

    Unlike the romanticized tale the Chinese Communist Party tells of itself—long marches and a long game of outlasting and outwitting its foes—the early years of the CCP were ones of unrepentant violence and a rise to…

  19. The Right Side of History with Tyler Cowen | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 174

    Donald Trump’s drop-in at the World Economic Forum and the ensuing kerfuffle between the American president and the attending globalist elites raises the question: Who is winning on the world stage, Trump or his…

  20. The World According to Trump | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 52 min · Episode 173

    As Iran’s theocracy teeters on the brink, the question turns to what the Trump administration’s abiding interest in other bad regimes (Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia) and its appetite for land acquisitions (greenbacks for…

  21. Coercive Diplomacy: Venezuela, Iran, and . . . Greenland? | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 56 min · Episode 172

    American special forces capture Venezuela’s president and his wife in a daring nighttime operation, returning the deposed first couple to the US to stand trial for alleged narcoterrorism. Meanwhile, protests in Iran…

  22. Are We Doing This Again? Andrew Ross Sorkin on “1929” and the GoodFellows on 2025 | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 00 min · Episode 171

    Nearly a century ago, after years of investors on a champagne high and warning signs ignored, a stock market crash led to a descent into a global depression. Andrew Ross Sorkin, a New York Times financial journalist…

  23. Tiny Cars and 70’s Problems with Ben Sasse | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 170

    Two institutional sectors are in both steady and rapid decline in terms of public trust: Congress and academia. Ben Sasse, former US senator from Nebraska and president of two universities, joins GoodFellows regulars…

  24. Viewer Mail: War & Peace, Reading & Writing, Why Babies Are Good, and Thanksgiving Memories | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 169

    Is the bitter war in Ukraine soon to wind down now that a peace settlement is being negotiated (think a Panmunjom-style compromise, not Munich-style appeasement), and how should America prepare for economic and…

  25. Cyber Rattling & Socialism: Anne Neuberger on Future Wars, Mayor Mamdani, and a Big Deal at the BBC | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 168

    Will future wars be decided by who controls space—cyber and outer—and which superpower has better paired geostrategic thinking with emerging technologies? Anne Neuberger, the Hoover Institution’s William C. Edwards…

  26. Trick or Treat? A Fight Between Good and Evil with Michael McFaul | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 57 min · Episode 167

    At a time of “hot wars” across the globe, there’s also an ideological “cold war” featuring two foes: those who embrace freedom and those who oppress it. Michael McFaul, the Hoover Institution’s Peter and Helen Bing…

  27. It’s The Economy, Israel and Tariffs, Stupid | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 02 min · Episode 166

    A hostage return and the signing of a cease-fire agreement signal a new chapter in the long-running dream of peace in the Middle East. Did it matter that the key negotiators, on the US side, were financiers and…

  28. Who’s Going To Win The Future? Dan Wang on China’s Engineers vs. America’s Lawyers | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 165

    One great power (China) has a relentless thirst to build that comes with a terrible human cost, while its main rival (America) is a more lawyerly and free society that’s prone to stifling ideas both good and bad. On…

  29. Turning Points: Kyiv, Kirk, Kimmel, and the Sundance Kid | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 39 min · Episode 164

    As a seemingly interminable conflict in Ukraine concludes its 43rd month of ground combat, aerial drone strikes, and stalemate, America’s culture war enters a new phase with the assassination of conservative activist…

  30. Drones, Dictators & Debt: India Flirts, Ukraine Fights, Trump Takes on The Fed | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 163

    Is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s embrace of his Russian and Chinese peers a mere signal of his displeasure with American tariff policy, or the beginning of a deeper geopolitical realignment? Hoover senior…

  31. The Eternal Optimist: H.R. McMaster on Combat, Faith, and Turning Down the Funk | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 51 min · Episode 162

    What inspires a young boy to dream about a career in the US Army and then, after graduating from West Point, manage to prepare for—and survive—combat? In a “solo” installment of GoodFellows, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster,…

  32. Boss Time: Summits, Cold Wars, and Universities, with Condoleezza Rice | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 20 min · Episode 161

    What to expect from this week’s Putin–Trump summit in Alaska? Hoover Institution Director and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice—no stranger, she, to engaging in statecraft with Russia’s enigmatic…

  33. Niall Ferguson, Flying Scotsman | GoodFellows

    · 51 min · Episode 160

    How does a young Scotsman go from struggling actor and failed politician to internationally acclaimed (and knighted) historian? In a solo installment of GoodFellows, Sir Niall Ferguson, Hoover’s Milbank Family Senior…

  34. California Dreaming with Rick Caruso | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 159

    In contrast to the 20th-century bosses of industry who ran America’s big cities, New York City seems poised to elect an unabashed socialist with dreams of government-run bodegas, rent freezes, and wealth…

  35. Gliding Through Life: John Cochrane on the Making of an Economist | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 56 min · Episode 157

    How does a promising young scholar go from dreams of designing glider planes to the study of physics and then on to a celebrated career as one of the world’s foremost monetary economists? In a “solo” installment of…

  36. Call Him Daddy: Assessing America’s Strike On Iran | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 32 min · Episode 158

    US forces launched bomb and missile strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities, followed soon by an Iran-Israel ceasefire and the beginning of what could be a diplomatic realignment across the Middle East. The…

  37. “That’s Not Gonna Happen:” Israel Aims to Destroy Iran’s Nuclear Program | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 39 min · Episode 156

    Israel launches air attacks intended to destroy Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities, Iran retaliates with missile strikes on Israeli cities, and the world waits to see what comes next – a return to the…

  38. Caveman Marxists: Frank Dikötter on Whether China Is a Fiery Dragon or a Paper Tiger | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 06 min · Episode 155

    Is China hell-bent on a move against Taiwan, or does its saber-rattling not square with a military capability that’s perhaps overestimated? Frank Dikötter, a Hoover senior fellow specializing in the history of modern…

  39. The Plane Truth: Playing Chicken with China, Trump Goes Gulf-ing, Tensions in South Asia

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 154

    America and China take a 90-day time-out in their dispute over tariffs; President Trump’s tour of the Middle East—the first overseas trip of his second term—raises unsettling questions about both his regional strategy…

  40. Peace Through Strength: The Good Fellows on Harvard, Europe, Warfare & Niall Gets Busted

    · 1 h 10 min · Episode 153

    Harvard University and the Trump administration do battle over civil rights, funding, and tax status. Europe confronts unpleasant realities as it honors the 80th anniversary of VE Day. And the Pentagon contemplates how…

  41. Tangled Up in Blue with Rep. Ro Khanna: Tariffs, Trump, and Progressive Capitalism

    · 1 h 03 min · Episode 152

    Rejected by voters last November, the Democratic Party is perhaps afforded new life given President Trump’s decline in popularity and economic uncertainty ahead. What is the party’s message? Rep. Ro Khanna, a…

  42. Viewer Mail: The GoodFellows Answer Your Questions

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 151

    What are the economic and geopolitical effects of President Trump's imposition of tariffs on America's trading friends and foes? In an episode devoted solely to viewers' questions, Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall…

  43. Mixed Signals and Emerging Technology with Amy Zegart

    · 1 h 05 min · Episode 150

    Does America have a plan for winning the competition of the future—mastering artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and space, plus other material and developmental sciences? Amy Zegart, the Hoover Institution’s…

  44. Evil Empire 2.0: Tom Cotton on Europe’s Path to Peace and China’s Dangerous Hegemony

    · 1 h 06 min · Episode 149

    US and Ukrainian officials will meet on March 12 to talk peace in Eastern Europe; a new US approach to China may or may not be in the works; and the Trump administration’s gas-brake approach to imposing tariffs on…

  45. The Great X Debate, with Matt Continetti: Vance v. Ferguson, Trump Diplomacy, DOGE, and Hackman

    · 57 min · Episode 148

    A one-week window into the Trump administration’s worldview—the president blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion; his vice president taking to social media to accuse a Hoover scholar of “historical illiteracy”; the US…

  46. The Age of Empire Strikes Back: Stephen Kotkin on Trump, Wrestling, and the Use of American Power | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 08 min · Episode 147

    Three weeks into the nascent Trump presidency, the question of “power” arises: how the leader of the free world uses unique words, deeds, and threats to advance America’s interests globally, through a blend of…

  47. Big Deal: Davos Man Returns; Colombia’s Social Media Smackdown; Is DeepSink AI’s “Sputnik Moment”? | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 57 min · Episode 146

    A week into Donald Trump’s “second first term,” the GoodFellows drink from the proverbial fire hose trying to keep up with the news: a flurry of presidential executive orders; a freezing of US foreign aid; policy spats…

  48. Vibe Shifts: Enter Trump, Exit Biden, the Politics of Fires, “Silly Walking and Flying Eagles” | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 145

    Donald Trump’s “second first term”—an oddity of winning nonconsecutive presidential elections—begins with talk of dramatic policy shifts at home and abroad. Hoover senior fellows Niall Ferguson and “Trump 45” veteran…

  49. 2024 in Review: Standards and Norms with the WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution

    · 51 min · Episode 144

    An eventful election year concludes with the curtain soon to rise on a second Trump presidency and the possibility of dramatic changes to how Washington conducts itself. Kimberley Strassel, the Wall Street Journal’s…

  50. The Mailbag Show: The GoodFellows Answer Your Questions

    · 1 h 12 min · Episode 143

    In a special “mailbag” episode, Hoover senior fellows Sir Niall Ferguson, John Cochrane, and H.R. McMaster answer audience questions ranging from current geopolitics quandaries and viable economic models to career and…

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