Two leading libertarian thinkers, Tom Palmer and Tyler Cowen, discussed Palmer’s new book, Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice, at a recent Cato Book Forum. You can see the video or download a podcast here.


Two years ago, Cowen and Palmer were among the contributors to a Cato Unbound colloquy on the past and future of libertarianism. Cowen was interviewed for Cato’s Daily Podcast and expressed a more critical view of the concept of “negative liberties” than classical liberals typically do. A few days later, in another Daily Podcast, Palmer took on what he considers the coercive confusions of “positive liberty” and defended the necessity of “negative liberty” to a free society.


Listen to them both and buy the book.


Update: Here’s a portion of Palmer’s talk that focuses on the rule of law: