Horwitz to discuss state of economics as PLE lecturer

Buies Creek, N.C.-Dr. Steven Horwitz, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., will discuss the problem of hubris within the economics profession as the Politics, Law and Economics (PLE) Lecture Series speaker on Tuesday, April 6, at 6 p.m. in Lynch Auditorium of Campbell University’s Lundy-Fetterman School of Business. The lecture series is presented by the Lundy Chair of Business Philosophy. Admission is free and open to the public.

Horwitz is the author of two books, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspetive, and Monetary Evolution, Free Banking and Economic Order, and he has written extensively on Austrian economics, Haykian political economy, monetary theory and history and the economics and social theory of gender and the family.

Horwitz earned an undergraduate degree in economics and philosophy from the University of Michigan and master’s and Ph.D. degrees in economics from George Mason University.

In a letter to his friends posted on his professional website, Horwitz analyzes current economic conditions.

“I have have heard frequently from you that the current financial mess has been caused by the failures of free markets and deregulation. I have heard from you that the lust after profits, any profits, that is central to free markets is at the core of our problems. And I have heard from you that only significant government intervention into financial markets can cure these problems,” he writes. “But consider that you may be mistaken. Regulations and policies and even the rhetoric of powerful political actors can change the incentives to profit. Regulations can make it harder for firms to minimize their risk by requiring that they make loans to marginal borrowers. Government institutions can encourage banks to take on extra risk by offering an implicit government guarantee, if those risks fail. Policies can direct self-interest into activities that only serve corporate profits, not the public by offering an implicit government guarantee if those risks fail.”