Mt.Hamilton Society - Anthony Gill: Against Scroogenomics
About this Event
Economist Joel Waldfogel famously argued in Scroogenomics that holiday gift-giving imposed heavy deadweight costs on society as people often receive gifts that they don't want. Alternatively, media pundits track Christmas spending as an indicator of whether the economy is healthy or not. Both perspectives miss the real importance of giving gifts. Using both economic logic and poetic rhetoric for the season, Prof. Anthony Gill will argue that free markets require sacrifice, generosity, and graciousness to be truly efficient. In the final analysis, the Scrooge we see at the end of A Christmas Carol is more properly capitalist than his miserly portrayal at the outset of Dickens' famous tale.
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Anthony Gill has been a professor of political economy at the University of Washington since 1994 after earning his PhD at UCLA. In addition to his extensive writing on the economics of religion, Prof. Gill has also made three appearances on EconTalk discussing religious liberty, restaurant tipping, and the importance of hotel shampoo, property rights, and the fabric of civilization. He was the recipient of the UW's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999 and was Time's 2006 Person of the Year. You can discover more at https://anthonygill.org.
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Please join the Mont Hamilton Society in this 17th year since our founding, to hear and interact with Anthony Gill on this fascinating and timely topic.
This meeting, including lunch, will be in-person for no more than 24 individuals only. We think you will enjoy the intellectual stimulation, the edification, the camaraderie, and meeting new people.
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From a satisfied Mont Hamilton Society member:
"Thanks as always to you for the fun and engaging lunch discussions you put together regularly - I always enjoy them and the dose of intellectual sanity they provide!" Luke Perkocha, MD, MBA
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About the Mont Hamilton Society - In 1947 Friedrich Hayek, an economist and social philosopher who later won the Nobel Prize, organized a meeting at Mt. Pelerin, a resort in Switzerland. Hayek convened a modest sized group of (39) economists, historians, philosophers and journalists for the purpose of supporting research and discussion on the role of markets vs. government. The Mont Pelerin Society is now a large and prestigious international organization.
In 2009, a group of friends began to meet in San Jose for the purposes of improving their understanding of economic theory, applying it to current events and sharing their understanding with others as well as promoting a joyous sense of camaraderie. In recognition of the example set by the Mont Pelerin Society, they decided to name their group the Mont Hamilton Society. Members understand the realities of the business world, share an interest in economic thinking, and value civil discourse from a variety of perspectives. Faculty and students from the Department of Economics at San Jose State University are frequent guests at Society meetings. In June 2017 the Mont Hamilton Society became the San Jose affiliate chapter of the Bastiat Society, an AIER.org project, hence our name from then till late last year was: Mont Hamilton/Bastiat Society. However AIER decided late in 2024 to discontinue the Bastiat Society program, so we are reverting to our original name: The Mont Hamilton Society and continuing on our own.
There are no membership fees or organizational meetings at this time, but all interested are encouraged to join and participate.
If you would like to be on our invitations list, or know someone else who might like to receive notice of our 7 - 10 luncheon or other events per year, or if you have any questions, please send an email to:
You or your suggested contact(s) will receive an announcement/invitation and a reminder or two for each event as they are scheduled, or a prompt answer to your question/s.
These events are discussions, not standard lectures. To facilitate this, the in-person gatherings before Covid Lockdowns were kept "small," typically 12 - 24 individuals only. Some presentations are video recorded, depending on demand and available resources. Constructive feedback on our events and interest in recordings is welcome, since we are continuing to evolve our meeting formats.
Thank you for your interest.
Agenda
🕑: 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Meet & Greet members and Speaker - sample wine that generous members bring.
🕑: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Lunch - your chosen entre
🕑: 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM
Intros - Society, Speaker, Members and Guests
🕑: 12:45 PM - 01:15 PM
Speaker Presentation
🕑: 01:15 PM - 01:30 PM
Q&A
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 55.20
