Challenge of Liberty Seminar Now Open to Single-Day Attendance
Attention High-school Students and College Undergrads:
If you wish to attend the Challenge of Liberty Student Seminars but your schedule prevents you from attending for the entire week, then fret no more! The Independent Institute is opening up the June session of its popular seminar to single-day attendance. Pay for only those days that you can attend. Please let us know which day(s) you wish to attend. (Space is still available for the August 10-14 session, but early registration is advised.)
The preliminary schedule for the June session is below.
The Challenge of Liberty Student Seminar, led by Brian Gothberg
The Independent Institute
100 Sway Way
Oakland, Calif.
(510) 632-1366
[email protected]
Session I: June 15 – 19, 2009
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Tuition: $39/day. $195/week. Includes materials & meals.
(Scholarships available. Phone us.)
Preliminary Schedule for June 15-19
Monday: Economics and Liberty
1. Introduction to Economics: What are we talking about when we discuss economics? What IS the economy?
2. Guest Speaker: Dr. James Ahiakpor (CSU East Bay) on the National Economy
A beginner’s guide to the facets of the economy, and to government policies
3. Guest Speaker: Dr. José Yulo (Academy of Arts Univ.) on Liberty
What exactly do we mean by “liberty”?
4. Self-Determination: Putting economics and liberty together. Are they compatible?
Tuesday: Market Chaos or Hidden Order?
1. Prices: What are prices, and why are they indispensable? How do prices shape our world?
2. Markets: What is a market? What activities do markets elicit? What kinds of patterns arise from markets?
3. Jobs: What is a job? WHY are there jobs? Should jobs go overseas? Are jobs going away?
4. Government interventions: What alternatives do we have to prices and markets? When are they feasible? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages?
Wednesday: Monopoly or Competition?
1. Competition: What IS competition? How does it work? When do we want it? Who competes? Is it a “dog eat dog” world?
2. The Birth of Monopolies: What makes a monopoly possible? Where do monopolies come from?
3. Guest speaker: Dr. Fred Foldvary (Santa Clara Univ.) on Monopolies and Technology
The complications that arise when the government creates monopolies
4. The End of Monopolies: What makes a monopoly impossible? What stops monopolies?
Thursday: Market Failure or Government Failure?
1. Public Goods: What is market failure? Which goods and services MUST be provided by the government?
2. Property Rights: What are property rights? Why do they matter in a discussion of “spillover effects”? Why do they matter when discussing the environment?
3. Guest speaker: Anthony Gregory (The Independent Institute) on National Defense
The ultimate public good: national defense. How do we grade the government’s performance?
4. Energy Policy and Climate: What approach should we take towards climate change? What steps has the government made in the past, to manage America’s energy resources and consumption?
Friday: Inflation, Recession and Government
1. Our current recession: An overview of the last two years
2. Guest speaker: Carl Close (The Independent Institute) on Inflation
What is inflation? What causes it? What problems does it cause?
3. Guest speaker: Dr. Fred Foldvary (Santa Clara Univ.) on the Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle
What are business cycles? Where do they come from? Can we fix them when they happen? Can we avoid them beforehand?
4. The Great Depression: What was the Great Depression? What caused it? What ended it? What lessons does it teach us?
