Menard Speaker Series: "Better Money: Gold, Fiat, or Bitcoin?"
Wednesday, March 16, 5 p.m. • Whitinger Business 144 (WB 144)
Lawrence H. White, PhD • Professor of Economics, George Mason University
Throughout most of history, the two real standards of money have been gold and fiat (government issued) money. The relatively recent creation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has made it possible for people to have an additional standard of cash. Is one type of money better than the others? Dr. Lawrence White will discuss the stability of purchasing power and costliness of supply for gold, fiat, and cryptocurrencies.
Additional upcoming ISPE Event:
Madam CJ Walker Colloquium: "Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals?"
Monday, April 11, 3 p.m. • Art and Journalism Building 175 (AJ 175)
Virgil Henry Storr, PhD • Vice President of Academic and Student Programs at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University
The most damning criticism of markets is that they are morally corrupting. As we increasingly engage in market activity, the more likely we are to become selfish, corrupt, rapacious and debased. Even Adam Smith, who famously celebrated markets, believed that there were moral costs associated with life in market societies.
This lecture explores whether or not engaging in market activities is morally corrupting. Storr demonstrates that people in market societies are wealthier, healthier, happier and better connected than those in societies where markets are more restricted. More provocatively, he explains that successful markets require and produce virtuous participants. Markets serve as moral spaces that both rely on and reward their participants for being virtuous. Rather than harming individuals morally, the market is an arena where individuals are encouraged to be their best moral selves. This lecture invites us to reassess the claim that markets corrupt our morals.