This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about

frontline theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Mola your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,

Kentucky.

Economics has often been described as the dismal science.

Well, you wouldn't know that by talking with Arthur Brooks.

He's been president of the American Enterprise Institute since January of 2009.

Previously, he served as the Louis A Bantl Professor of Business and Government Policy at Syracuse University.

He studied economics, math and languages, eventually earning bachelor's and master's degrees in economics,

and a PhD in public policy from the Rand graduate school.

His newest book is The Road to Freedom, his 10th.

Arthur Brooks, welcome to Thinking in Public.

Thank you, Dr. Mueller, it's a pleasure to be with you.

I've been a fan of yours for many years and always look forward to talking to you.

Well, likewise, I really appreciate your work and I appreciate the fact that we get to talk

about something that I think evangelical Christians in particular often neglect to think about and that is the science, the academic discipline of economics.

And I did mention that it's often referred to as the dismal science.

A lot of people seem to have an allergy to dealing with economics.

One of the things that I think you've communicated quite clearly is if you really care

about human flourishing, you care about economics.

That's right you know one of the reasons that I came to AEEI, the American Enterprise

Institute from from Syracuse was because I was so frustrated with the fact that we weren't able in the public policy sphere to make the authentic moral case for economic freedom.

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