Dr. Allan Jenkins
professor, Department of Economics, 308.865.8461
A two-day symposium on the Morality of Capitalism will take place Nov. 1-2 (Tuesday and Wednesday) at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
Dr. Yaron Brook, president and executive director for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, will give the keynote presentation at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1, in the Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, is titled “Ayn Rand’s Free Market Revolution: Atlas Shrugged & The Morality of Capitalism.”
“Dr. Brook will use the philosophy of Ayn Rand, made famous through books like ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ ‘The Fountainhead’ and ‘Anthem,’ to argue in favor of a limited role for government,” said Dr. Allan Jenkins, a professor in the UNK Department of Economics. The symposium is co-chaired by Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Jake Messersmith, an assistant professor of management.
“The theme of this symposium, ‘The Morality of Capitalism,’ is very timely, given the national and international economic disruption which has occurred over the past few years and the debate over the causes and the appropriate responses,” said Dr. Tim Burkink, dean of the UNK College of Business and Technology. “We look forward to bringing experts from across the nation to UNK to engage our students, faculty, and the community in a discussion of the promises and challenges of capitalism.”
Dr. Brook will also be one of the key participants in a Wednesday morning panel discussion titled “The Financial Disaster: How We Got Here, Where We’re Going, and the Eerie Parallels to ‘Atlas Shrugged.'” The panel discussion will take place from 10:30 a.m. until noon in the Nebraskan Student Union Ponderosa Room. In addition to Dr. Brook, panelists will include: Dr. Wade Maki, director, BB&T Program on Capitalism, Markets and Morality at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Dr. Hendrik van den Berg, professor of economics at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.
“Today’s college students will eventually become important participants in the debate regarding the appropriate role for government,” Dr. Jenkins said.
In all, over the two days, seven speakers will discuss a range of subjects, including: individual rights, tort reform, social justice and the economic transformation of Russia.
Other symposium speakers will include Professor Alan Calnan, the Irwin R. Buchalter Professor of Law at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles; Dr. Craig MacPhee, the Paul C. Burmeister College Professor of Economics at UNL; Dr. Joyce Gleason, emeritus professor of economics at Nebraska Wesleyan University; and Dr. William Snyder, emeritus professor of business at Peru State College.
The symposium is sponsored by the UNK College of Business and Technology, along with financial support from the Anthem Foundation, Gavilon (Peavey) Grain, Barney Financial Services and the UNK College of Business and Technology J.A. Baldwin Free Enterprise Lecture Series.
A complete list of symposium presentations as well as biographies of each of the presenters can be found on the UNK College of Business and Technology website:http://www.unk.edu/academics/bt/Morality_of_Capitalism_Symposium/
