Engaging with Leading Free Market Thinkers

Last week ARI intellectuals spoke at the annual conference of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, APEE.

The organization brings together teachers and scholars from universities and think tanks, based on a shared interest in researching and promoting the system of free enterprise. Members of APEE —including such scholars John Goodman, George Selgin, and Eugene Volokh — reach out in their capacity as teachers, writers and speakers to millions of Americans.

Speaking at the APEE conference is an opportunity to engage with important debates on the economy and the role of government, and to connect with professors and scholars who are interested in a free society and in Ayn Rand’s ideas.

ARI’s representatives presented on a wide variety of topics:

  • Yaron Brook (Executive Director) offered an Objectivist perspective on economic inequality.
  • Onkar Ghate (Senior Fellow and Chief Content Officer) discussed different theories of liberty.
  • Don Watkins (Fellow) shed light on how people arranged economic security before the entitlement state.
  • Doug Altner (Analyst and Instructor) illustrated how labor laws distort labor relations; in a separate presentation, he discussed what Ayn Rand can teach us about defending brewers from the regulatory state.
  • Aaron Smith (Instructor) explored the moral meaning of individualism through Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem.

Said Don Watkins: “APEE gave me an opportunity to let some of today’s leading free-market thinkers know about my campaign to End the Debt Draft. The response I got was phenomenal, with several attendees agreeing to help me promote the campaign.”