Capitalism Makes a Comeback on Campus

There’s exciting stuff going on in the world of higher education these days for fans of free markets. Just last week, the University of Arizona’s Center for the Philosophy of Freedom received a $2.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to help build a network of philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) programs at several universities around the world.

Closer to home here in Washington, D.C., the new Ed Snider Center for Enterprise and Markets at the University of Maryland is making a strong showing out of the gate. Earlier this month the Center hosted a debate over income inequality and public policy including current Executive MBA students and outside speakers Yaron Brook and Paul Vaaler. The video content from that event is well worth re-visiting for anyone who was unable to attend in person.

Starting tomorrow, the Snider Center will also launch its Justice & Markets lecture series, designed to introduce students and the general public to topics in philosophy, ethics, and business. Prof. Jason Brennan of Georgetown University will deliver the inaugural lecture, titled “Capitalism, Marxism, and the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” taken from material in his book Why Not Capitalism? If you’re going to be in the vicinity of College Park, Maryland tomorrow, feel free to stop by the Charles Carroll room in the Stamp Student Union at 4 p.m.

The programs at the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland, of course, are only two examples of great work being done in higher education that is focused on the virtues of free market capitalism. The BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism at Wake Forest University, established in 2008, is another. Hopefully the next few years will see even more such projects emerge at universities across the country.