the peterson institute and before properly in seducing then i would like to say a few words about this lecture series. this is one of a very small number of the named lecture series we have at the peterson institute along with the foundation lecture which is the mainstay of our program. the lecture series is in honor of a dedicated to the memory of a longtime friend and intellectual supporter of the institute, and john had the distinguished career in finance and advisor to several of the world central bank, reserve management, and was engaged with peterson institute and other organizations on this intersection between finance, macroeconomics and frankly, ethical concerns about to make the world better. a john was a role model and mentor to many of us, myself included and his family, his friends, colleagues from around the world including our speaker today, benjamin friedman, came together to endow this lecture series with peterson institute in his honor. it s been a distingui
welcome back to the institute for international economics party on the internets president, whether it is morning evening or afternoon where your, it s a good day to be talking with professor benjamin, religion and the rise of capitalism with his new book printed it was just released. obviously already much anticipated and well reviewed. were delighted to have for you this year s sixth annual event lecture at the peterson institute before properly introducing although traditionally introducing him, i would like to just say a few words about this lecture series. this is one of a very small number of endowed named lecture series we have. peterson institute, along with the publishing foundation lecture which is our program today. this series is an honor a man dedicated to the memory of a longtime friend and intellectual supporter. and john had distinguished career global finance revenues and several of the world s central banks. under management and policy. leaders engage wi
collaboration between the society and the university, and since our opening two years ago, we have offered students and visitors alike access to primary documents, the entire churchill archive online, original artifacts and document withs on display over there documents on display over there, and, of course, we ve had a series of churchill conversations with extraordinary figures including david rubin stein, david petraeus, robert harris, the historians tim snyder and neil ferguson, former foreign secretary lord owen, and tonight, of course, we re honored to welcome jesse norman. i ve been particularly looking forward to this event because jesse a few years ago wrote a biography of edmund burke, a statesman i admire more than almost any other, and it s particularly nice to welcome him here to talk about adam smith. we have these conversations to sort of live up to churchill s add admonition admonition that the longer you can look backward, the farther you can look forward
one that i find the most absolutely fascinating and interesting is the one we re going to discuss tonight. james garfield. for quite a number of reasons. first of all, garfield is one of the most intelligent presidents we have ever had. i mean he is up there in the top half dozen, and when we go through his life by the end of it or the middle of it, you re going to start laughing because you re just going to say no, that can t be. he can t be that good in that field. it s just not possible. and then we ll find something else, and you re going to say no. he is just incredibly bright, and the hope for his presidency was enormous. and so we re going to discuss an absolutely brilliant human being. i was chatting with a friend before, and he asked me if i thought garfield was the most intelligent. i don t know how you test something like that. i mean, it s not as if you give presidents iq tests. it s a lot easier with things that are easy to measure. tall and short i mean, we all
i would argue, that s a much better gamble for the future when you continue with the current system, the current bureaucracies and the current mess in washington, and that s why i have a much better chance of making america great again with donald trump. and mediocre minds better on the stimulus. a canadian is a canadian and you can t take away citizenship. and barack obama has systematically rebuilt the trust of the world and our willingness to work through the security council and other institutions. you must not talk to anybody in the world, any of our allies. whatever you want to call this system, a mafia state, a futile empower, it s a disaster for ordinary russians. i think that s the hypocritical argument that i find quite annoying. and the foreign policy can be described by management. science and religion are not incompatible and religion forces nice people to do unkind things. my conclusion to the question is no, i won t let you be you. sho