Markets are Good for More than Wealth

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We talk a lot on this show about the benefits of free and open markets and, given the growing hostility to economic freedom, not just from the Trump administration, but from populist governments around the world, we'll continue to do so.

Today I wanted to approach that conversation a little differently from usual though. Most of the time, when people say markets are good, what they mean is that markets make us richer, driven innovation, and so on. But markets do more than that. They make us better people, too.

This is a controversial claim, because so many criticisms of markets will admit that they create wealth, but then chastise them for promoting selfishness and greed, or replacing cooperation with callous competition.

That's wrong, however. And to discuss why, and why markets aren't just economically better, but morally bettering, as well, I've brought back my good friend Tom Palmer. He is executive vice president for international programs at Atlas Network, where he holds the George M. Yeager Chair for Advancing Liberty, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute.

Produced by Landry Ayres. Podcast art by Sergio R. M. Duarte. Music by Kevin MacLeod.