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Lecture Series

Truist Center: Global Capitalism & Ethics

Each year, distinguished academics and professionals are invited to speak on topics relating to capitalism and the economy including economic growth, inequality, entrepreneurship, ethics, and fraud.

 

Fall 2025

Dr. Bryan Caplan

Professor of Economics, George Mason University


"Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation"

Photo of Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics at George Mason University is an economist and New York Times Bestselling author. His book, The Myth of the Rational Voter, was named "the best political book of the year" by the NY Times. Other published books include Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids, The Case Against Education, Open Borders, and Build Baby, Build.

He is the editor and chief writer for "Bet On It," the blog hosted by the Salem Center for Policy at the Unversity of Texas. He has published in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Newsweek, the Atlantic, along with many other publications. He has appeared on ABC, BBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and C-SPAN. 

During his downtime, he enjoys role-playing games and graphic novels.

Previous Years

2023 - 2024

Beth Akers, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Joshua Hall, Milan Puskar Dean & Professor of Economics,
John Chambers College of Business & Economics,
West Virginia University

2022 - 2023 

Arthur B. Laffer, Founder and Chairman of Laffer Associates, Distinguished Reagan Economist, Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient 

Michael C. Munger, Director of the PPE Certificate Program and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Duke University

John Fagan, CEO of Financial Empowerment Partners, Prior Director of the U.S. Treasury's Markets Room

2021 - 2022

James R. Harrigan, Senior Research Fellow at American Institute for Economic Research, Co-Host of the "Words & Numbers" podcast

Antony Davies, Associate professor of Economics at Duquesne University, Co-Host of the "Words and Numbers" podcast

2019 - 2020

John B. Taylor, Creator of the interest rate forecasting tool known as "The Taylor Rule", Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University, Senior Fellow of Economics at the Hoover Institution

2018 - 2019

Benjamin Powell, Director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University

Aaron Beam, First CFO at Healthsouth Corp involved in Healthsouth fraud.