The 2023 Northwood University Freedom Seminar Lecture Series will focus on the importance of economic freedom for development and describe how recent trends in trade and government policies pose a threat to economic freedom in the United States And in the world.
“The Northwood University Freedom Seminar is an annual symposium on the free enterprise system led by distinguished academics and business leaders,” said Dr. Dale Matcheck, chair of economics at Northwood University. Northwood University. “The purpose of the seminar is to study topics of greatest interest to local, national and global audiences.”
A global trend toward greater economic freedom in the first part of this century lifted millions of people out of poverty. This has led to improvements in health, education, civil rights and self-reported life satisfaction.
“Unfortunately, the trend toward increasing economic freedom has reversed since 2020,” Matcheck said. “There is reason to believe that this is not a simple interruption in response to the COVID pandemic, but a more permanent trend due to the changing values and priorities of political elites and commercial. »
This year’s sessions will describe the relationship between economic freedom and development. They will also explore the potential long-term consequences of current business practices and government policies that threaten both, as well as related ethical issues.
The format of the 45th Annual Freedom Seminar is a series of three distinct events focusing on a different aspect of the theme of economic freedom and development:
• February 24: A global perspective. This will provide an international perspective with speakers and audiences from multiple countries. Guest speakers include Manizha Wafeq, a native of Afghanistan who evacuated the country weeks before the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021. Wafeq has 19 years of development experience, 15 of which focus on empowering women and gender equality, working with international partners, governments and non-governmental organizations. Other speakers will include think tank leaders and economists from Bulgaria, Greece, Spain and Guatemala.
• March 16-17: Threats to economic freedom. A multitude of lectures and presentations are planned to discuss current government or business practices that harm economic freedom and development. The conferences and panel on March 17 are part of the Free Market Road Show’s American tour. On March 16, Dr. David Friedman, son of famous economist and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman, will deliver a speech. All of these events are co-sponsored by the Free Market Roadshow.
• April 15: Economic freedom and entrepreneurship. This conference will be held in Dearborn and will provide a historical perspective on the relationship between economic freedom and entrepreneurship. It also includes a tour of Greenfield Historic Village, where many historic buildings and artifacts related to American enterprise are on display. This program is co-sponsored by Young America’s Foundation.
“At Northwood, we believe that freedom, individual responsibility and entrepreneurship are essential to human progress,” Matcheck said. “The Freedom Seminar allows participants to better understand these values and how they can be applied to improve public policy, business and our personal lives. This event brings together Northwood students, employees and alumni with community leaders, business professionals and distinguished scholars for lectures, discussions and debate on the benefits, opportunities and challenges associated with life in a free society.
The February 24 events will provide an opportunity to hear from leaders of various countries to discuss the state of freedom. The morning session will be entirely virtual and will invite speakers from Europe, Central America and Africa. The afternoon session will include an in-person panel discussing issues related to socialism. Speakers will understand Dr Alex Tokarev, an economics professor at Northwood who grew up in Bulgaria under socialism and earned his Ph.D. in economics from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
Here is a list of presenters who will be featured on March 16 and 17:
• Dr. David Friedman is an academic economist with a doctorate in physics. He is a leading proponent of anarcho-capitalism, the theory that the state is an unnecessary evil and that all services, including the law itself, can be provided through voluntary cooperation in the private economy. His most recent non-fiction book is Legal systems very different from ours, covering systems from Periclean Athens to modern Amish and Romany. He is also the author of three novels, one commercially published and two self-published. He and his wife self-published a book of medieval and Renaissance recipes as well as a larger book related to their historical recreation hobby.
Friedman’s keynote address will be held March 16 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Griswold Lecture Hall.
• Art Carden is a professor of economics at the Brock School of Business at Samford University. He is also a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and the Fraser Institute. researcher at the Independent Institute; a senior researcher at the Beacon Center in Tennessee; senior fellow at the Institute for Faith, Work and Economics; and co-editor of Southern Economic Journal. He has published research on mass distribution, economic history and the history of economic ideas. He is a contributor to Forbes.comand his comments and other articles appeared in USA today, Productive!, Black beltand many other points of sale.
Carden will present an online lecture from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on March 16. His presentation is sponsored by the Hammond Institute of Lindenwood.
• Richard W. Rahn is an economist, syndicated columnist and entrepreneur. Currently, he is president of Improbable Success Productions and the Institute for Global Economic Growth. He also writes a weekly business column published in the Washington Times, Real Clear Markets and many other places.
Rahn will present a lecture at 10:30 a.m. March 17 at the McNair Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center.
• Dan Mitchell is a public policy economist in Washington, DC. His primary research interests include tax reform, international tax competition, the economic burden of government spending, and other tax policy issues. He is one of the nation’s foremost experts on flat taxes and has been the leading international spokesperson in the fight to preserve tax competition, financial privacy and tax sovereignty. He has decades of experience writing articles, writing op-eds, working with the public policy community, and presenting free market perspectives to newspapers, television, and radio.
Mitchell’s presentation will take place at 10:30 a.m. March 17 at the McNair Center.
• John Chisolm has three decades of experience as an entrepreneur, CEO and investor. A pioneer in online marketing research, he founded Decisive Technology (now part of Google), publisher of the first desktop and client-server software for online surveys. He later founded CustomerSat (now part of Confirmit), a leading enterprise feedback management provider. Today, he is CEO of John Chisholm Ventures, a startup advisory and angel investing group.
Chisolm will present a lecture at 12:30 p.m. March 17 at the McNair Center.
• Dr. Barbara Kolm is the leading woman libertarian in Europe; vice-president of the Austrian Central Bank; Director of the Austrian Economic Center (which is the #1 independent think tank in Austria and #21 in the world); president of the Hayek Institute; and professor of Austrian economics at the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro. She also serves on several supervisory boards. She was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN-ITU Think Tank on the Environmental Effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence and Other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE) and Chair of the United for Index Theme Group Smart Sustainable City.
She will present at 2 p.m. March 17 at the McNair Center.
• A panel of three speakers will be presented at 4 p.m. on March 17 at the McNair Center. Panelists include Dr Tawni Hunt FerrariniRobert W. Plaster, professor of economic education at Linwood University; Donald Kochan, professor of law and deputy executive director of the Law & Economics Center (LEC) at George Mason University; And Dr. Charles N. SteeleHerman and Suzanne Dettwiler Chair in Economics at Hillsdale College.
The following speakers will be presented April 15 at the Henry Hotel in Dearborn:
• Dr. Timothy G. Nash, director of the McNair Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. Nash will present “Travels and Life Made Better by the Real McCoy,” which will recall the contributions of African-American entrepreneurs to America’s economic development, with a special focus on the life and accomplishments of Elijah J. McCoy, a native of Michigan.
His presentation will begin at 3:45 p.m.
• Dr. Dale Matchek, chair of the economics department at Northwood University, received his doctorate from Cornell University. He is a professor and chair of the economics department at Northwood University. Matcheck will discuss the social function of entrepreneurship at 4:30 p.m.
The Freedom Seminar is made possible thanks to the generous support of McNair Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Northwood University. The public is invited to participate in the Freedom Seminar, and participation is free. However, you must register for each session you wish to view. To learn more, visit https://www.northwood.edu/freedom-seminar
