Violent Saviors: A Conversation With Bill Easterly

On this episode of the Hayek Program Podcast, Peter Boettke talks with Bill Easterly about his new book, Violent Saviors: The West’s Conquest of the Rest. Drawing on figures such as Adam Smith, P.T. Bauer, and Amartya Sen, Easterly argues that material progress alone cannot justify the denial of human dignity and consent. The conversation explores the idea of the “benevolent autocrat” and examines how both colonialism and modern development policy have too often treated people as objects of improvement rather than agents of their own lives. Along the way, Boettke and Easterly discuss state capacity, slavery, colonialism, migration, and post-communist transitions, making the case that freedom is not just a means to development but an end in itself.Dr. William Easterly is Professor Emeritus of Economics at New York University and Co-director Emeritus of the NYU Development Research Institute. He is the author of numerous books, including The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor (Basic Books, 2014), The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Penguin Books, 2006), and The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (MIT Press, 2001).**This episode was recorded on February 2, 2026**Show Notes:Acemoglu and Robinson, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty (Penguin Books, 2020)Amartya Sen, Development As Freedom (Vintage, 2000)David Colander, Why aren't Economists as Important as Garbagemen? (Routledge, 1991)Matt Kibbe, Don't Hurt People and Don't Take Their Stuff: A Libertarian Manifesto (HarperCollins, 2015)If you like the show, please subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and tell others about the show! We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you get your podcasts.Check out our other podcast from the Hayek Program! Virtual Sentiments is a podcast in which political theorist Kristen Collins interviews scholars and practitioners grappling with pressing problems in political economy with an eye to the past. Subscribe today!Follow the Hayek Program on Twitter: @HayekProgramFollow the Mercatus Center on Twitter: @mercatusCC Music: Twisterium