Is inequality skyrocketing in the United States? Are low federal tax rates to blame? Despite the proliferation of political slogans about rising income concentration among "the 1%," recent data findings indicate that these claims are wildly exaggerated. Phillip Magness presented data examining patterns in inequality over the last century, showing that exogenous factors such as recessions and wars, rather than economic policy, are responsible for changing levels of income concentration.

Immigration has consistently been a contentious issue in the United States, with concerns about immigrants and their impact on the nation's economic and political institutions dating back to pre-revolutionary times. A persistent argument posits that immigrants, ingrained with their home countries' cultural and institutional beliefs, may attempt to substitute these for those in the affluent countries they immigrate to. Alexandre Padilla explored the core assumptions that critics of immigration hold and described what empirical research reveals about the impact of immigration on political and economic institutions.

Countries that borrow as much as the U.S. government experience negative effects, such as lower economic growth and higher interest rates that affect everything from mortgages to business formation and expansion to auto loans. When government debt grows too far out of control, countries may even face fiscal or debt crises during which banks collapse, unemployment skyrockets, and everyday goods and services become unaffordable. Romina Boccia explained how growing government debt can harm economic growth and stability.

Capitalism is necessary for organizing human cooperation at scale, but its adherents must consider some problems inherent to the capitalist system. Karl Marx called some of these problems “contradictions,” and while he was wrong about many things, including a value theory based on embodied labor, his perceptions of capitalism were very accurate. Michael Munger discussed these contradictions but also argued that the problem for Marxists is that every flaw in markets is worse under socialism.

Freedom and free enterprise have enriched the United States, but have increasingly come under threat. Steve Forbes offered his views on the current state of freedom and free enterprise in the United States and what steps are necessary to ensure widespread prosperity in the future.

With the economic future of Argentina in peril, many scholars and analysts have endorsed a strategy of dollarization to ensure Argentina’s political and economic stability and support its future growth. Nicolás Cachanosky, a contributing author of a proposal for dollarization in Argentina, discussed the proposal and its prospects for adoption by the administration of President Javier Milei.