Can Capitalism Survive?

Part III

Capital_051-100.indd 83 1/3/12 7:41 PM Part III On the Nature of Economics I n this part on the nature of economics, pride of place goes naturally to the paper on Adam Smith, the Father of Economics. This paper was first presented to an audience at Hillsdale College. In it, I make no attempt to conceal my opinion that Adam Smith is still the best of all of us who have labored in this particular vineyard. The second paper in this section, "Christian Economics : Myth or Reality?" was written as an attempt to relate economics as a science to those questions of right and wrong policy that are the stuff of the real world. I accepted an invitation to present a paper at a Seminar on Economics and Ethics held at Valparaiso University in early 1965, and this paper is the result of that rash acceptance. The third paper, "College Economics: Is It Subversive of Capitalism?" was presented to the Conservative Club at Yale University in the fall of 1967. Many Capital_051-100.indd 84 1/3/12 7:41 PM 84. Can Capitalism Survive? of the older alumni of schools like Yale were convinced then (and now) that the members of the economics departments of their old colleges were ringleaders in the conspiracy to "do in" the capitalist system. In my paper, I argue that the very nature of economics Is such as to make those fears largely groundless. ...