Yaron Brook, chairman of the Ayn Rand Institute’s board of directors, delivered the Adam Smith Institute’s annual Ayn Rand Lecture on “The Morality of Finance” on November 13, 2017, in London, England.

“The Adam Smith Institute is among the oldest and most renowned think tanks in Europe,” says Annie Vinther Sanz, who organizes events for Ayn Rand Institute Europe, “so this annual acknowledgement of Ayn Rand is significant and usually draws a very large audience. This was the first think tank in Europe to honor Ayn Rand, and in 2012 they started an annual lecture series promoting her ideas. Former speakers include two of ARI’s board members: John Allison (the former CEO of BB&T Corporation) and Lars Seier Christensen (former CEO of SAXO Bank) as well as prominent businessmen such as Ken Moelis, founder and CEO of Moelis & Company, and David Sokol, CEO of Teton Capital.”

The event was held in historic Middle Temple Hall, one of the four Inns of court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers. “This was the headquarters of the Knights Templar until they were dissolved in 1312,” says Vinther Sanz, “and thereafter it belonged to the Knights Hospitallers, who leased the premises to lawyers. One of the Middle Temple’s main functions now is to provide education and support for new members to the legal profession.”

Brook deals at greater length with the subject matter of this talk in his recent book, In Pursuit of Wealth: The Moral Case for Finance, co-authored with Don Watkins.

You can watch the whole event, including Q&A, here.