Political Economy Reading Program

Knowledge and Decisions

The theme for the spring 2027 reading program is Knowledge and Decisions. Drawing on Thomas Sowell’s Knowledge and Decisions (Basic Books, 1996), participants will explore how societies use knowledge dispersed among individuals to coordinate economic, political, and social life. Readings will bring Sowell’s work into conversation with classic and contemporary contributions on markets and planning and apply them to contemporary issues such as innovation policy and artificial intelligence. The readings and discussion will address a range of questions including:

• How do different institutions affect the generation and use of knowledge? How do incentives shape whose knowledge informs decisions and how mistakes are corrected?
• What can the successes and failures of economic planning teach us about the limits of expertise?
• How does innovation change what we know and how we can plan? Can artificial intelligence overcome the knowledge problems that earlier efforts at planning encountered?
• How do politics and bureaucracy shape collective decisions? What ethical questions arise when some people make decisions whose consequences others bear?

The full schedule of readings and topics of discussion will be posted to this page at a later date. The program will begin with an Introductory Session at the start of the spring 2027 semester on Monday, January 25, 2027, followed by ten (10) discussion meetings. Meetings will be held weekly throughout the semester:

• Angelo State University — Mondays — 5:30-6:45 PM

Dinner will be provided at each discussion meeting. The program will conclude on or before Monday, May 3, 2027.

FMI Public Speaker Series and Program Summit

Participants will also attend a weekend multi-school summit on January 29-30, 2027 (Friday/Saturday) hosted at Texas Tech University. The summit will feature formal remarks from Peter J. Boettke, Distinguished University Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University. Participants in the summit program will read and discuss selected publications authored by Prof. Boettke prior to the summit program and participate in interactive discussion groups on issues related to the program theme. The Free Market Institute will provide ground transportation and lodging to accommodate travel to Lubbock, TX for the Summit program.

Program Eligibility and Application

Full-time undergraduate students from any field of study at Angelo State University are eligible and encouraged to apply. Participants that successfully complete the program receive a $1,000 scholarship. Interested students should apply at the link below.

FMI Political Economy Reading Program Application - Spring 2027

The deadline to apply is Sunday, November 29, 2026. 

Past Reading Programs

To view information about previous iterations of this program, visit the archive at the following link:

FMI Political Economy Reading Program Archive

If you have questions about the Political Economy Reading Program, or if you would like to receive updates and announcements about future programs, please contact the Free Market Institute at fmi@angelo.edu or 806.742.7138.