New Economic Book Club works include 'Atlas Shrugged'

Why is Haiti so poor and Hong Kong so rich? Can capitalism be moral? What fixed the Great Depression? Who won the War on Poverty?

These and other economic issues will be discussed at monthly meetings of the new Economics Book Club, sponsored by the Bluegrass Economic Education Society (BEES), being led by John Garen, Ph.D., University of Kentucky Gatton Endowed Professor of Economics.

The meetings are open to the public.

The first meeting will be Wed., Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. in Room 324 of the Business and Economics Building, located at 550 South Limestone St. in Lexington. Additional meetings are planned for Oct. 26, Nov. 15 and Dec. 14.

Garen will lead discussions on selected works by classical and contemporary economic thought leaders, including Adam Smith, Thomas Sowell, John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman. Among the works that will be considered are: "The Fatal Conceit" by Frederick Hayek, "Self Interest and the Constitution" by Bruce Epstein and Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

For more information, contact Frank Byron at BEESociety@gmail.com.

Economic freedom & quality of life

Keynes and Hayek, second round

My recent economics professor Russ Roberts and producer John Papola are back with a new Keynes versus Hayek rap video. In basically every particular, I have to say that I prefer this one to their first effort. Take a look.



You can see their first effort here. If you haven't read much Hayek, a good place to start is "The Use of Knowledge in Society" and the free Reader's Digest condensed edition of The Road to Serfdom.