Hillsdale Hosts Fifteenth Annual Free Market Forum

Scholars Discuss Markets, Government, and the Common Good in Charlotte, NC

HILLSDALE, Mich. — Hillsdale College hosted its fifteenth annual Free Market Forum on Oct. 28-30 at the Westin Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. The forum featured panel discussions and lectures from scholars representing a variety of institutions and publications. Main speakers included Charles V. Payne of FOX Business Network and Christopher Caldwell of The Claremont Institute.

“Our economy is doing well,” said Payne in his talk on the state of the U.S. economy. “We’ve recovered from the pandemic better than any country out there, no matter what they say, and yet, socialism is being romanticized again … Capitalism can evolve, can get smarter, but there is no doubt that it is the best system ever devised by mankind to create wealth and take people out of poverty and despair.”

Other topics included woke capitalism, American populism, and blockchain.

“Like all revolutions, blockchain technology represents an extraordinary opportunity to improve the human condition,” said Roger Butters, Hillsdale College associate professor of economics. “We must, however, be sure that as we develop this technology, we also develop the social institutions that will ensure it is used to guarantee freedom for the masses, not power for the few.”

Roughly 400 people attended the forum, including more than 225 friends of the College and 150 professors from across the country and around the world.

More information as well as lectures from previous Free Market Forums are available here. View photos here.