Authors Austin Hill and Scott Rae drew a crowd of about 200 to the release of their book, “The Virtues of Capitalism: A Moral Case for Free Markets,” at Mayers Auditorium Thursday evening.
Hill and Rae explained their reasons for writing the book and clarified their particular views on capitalism, which excludes libertarianism and market fundamentalism (belief in a self-correcting market).
“In general we want to make a case that government has a role to step in when the cultural system essentially fails to provide adequate restraints in terms of ethics or morality on economic behavior,” Rae said.
The authors also discussed the task of translating biblical principles — which were penned in a very different economic setting — to modern economics. Rae articulated that capitalism is not “an economic system given from on high,” but rather asserted that biblical principles like caring for the poor are “best fulfilled by a flourishing capitalistic system.”
Rae and Austin defended capitalism as a system of incentive that promotes character and enterprise, rejecting its associations with greed.
“Self interest in the scripture is to be balanced with a concern with others,“ Hill said. “But there’s nothing intrinsically wrong, in fact there’s something intrinsically good about pursuing one’s self interest sufficient to care for your needs and for those dependent on you.”
A stand out in the crowd was retiree Larry Jarrall, 71, who agreed that the government should be as hands off as possible. He sported a black and white “AUDIT THE FED” t-shirt.
“I’m pretty much a libertarian. I think there needs to be some rules, but I think the less the government does, the better off we are,” Jarrall said.
The event, sponsored by the apologetics department, lasted for about two hours. The first half was primarily lecture, and the second half was open for question and answer with the audience. During a break after the lecture, the audience viewed a series of YouTube videos, “Lemonade Stand Economics,” which was produced in conjunction with the book.
