Markets have many benefits for an open society. As engines of economic growth, markets extend the frontiers of human well-being. As sites of innovation, markets expand the bounds of human capabilities. As a non-coercive means of coordinating behavior, markets diminish the threat of tyranny.
However, markets also pose challenges for an open society. The concentration of economic power threatens to restrict individual opportunity, stifle innovation, and distort public discourse. A one-sided emphasis on economic growth and material gain threatens to limit our moral horizons and degrade the natural environment. The extension of markets into areas like education, health care, and criminal justice threatens to undermine the distinct ends that those institutions are designed to promote.
The Markets and the Open Society COMPAS Program will explore a wide range of ethical questions that are raised by the relationship between markets and the open society. We welcome partnerships; please contact cehv@osu.edu with proposals.
This COMPAS program is being organized by Professors Eric MacGilvray (Political Science; COMPAS Coordinator) and Piers Norris Turner (Philosophy; CEHV Director).
Spring 2022 Events
January 28, 2022 - Conference: Are Markets Progressive? (Part 1*)
Zoom webinar - VIDEO
Panelists: Darrick Hamilton (Economics and Urban Policy, The New School); Richard Reeves (Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution); moderator Dana Howard (Philosophy and Bioethics, Ohio State).
February 11, 2022 - Conference: Are Markets Progressive? (Part 2*)
Zoom webinar - VIDEO
Panelists: Ryan Muldoon (Philosophy, University of Buffalo); Julie L. Rose (Government, Dartmouth); moderator Emma Saunders-Hastings (Political Science, Ohio State).
March 4, 2022 - Conference: The Value of Open Society
Thompson Library 11th floor - VIDEO
Panelists: Jennifer Forestal (Political Science, Loyola University Chicago), Michael Fuerstein (Philosophy, St Olaf), Michael Neblo (Political Science, Ohio State University), Allison Stanger (International Politics and Economics, Middlebury College), John Thrasher (Philosophy, Chapman University).
April 1, 2022 - Civil Discourse Forum: Should Open Societies Have Open Borders?
Faculty Club Grand Lounge
Panelists: Sahar Akhtar (Business, Georgetown University); Javier Hidalgo (Leadership Studies, University of Richmond).
Moderated by Ohio State undergraduate Civil Discourse Fellows Andres Berrios-Perez and Morgan Gibbs.
April 8, 2022 - Civil Discourse Forum: Can Markets be Immoral?
Faculty Club Grand Lounge
Panelists: Peter Jaworski (Business, Georgetown University) and Debra Satz (Philosophy, Stanford University).
Moderated by Ohio State undergraduate Civil Discourse Fellows Madison Meixner and Adarsh Subramanian.
*These two panels were originally scheduled to be part of a single in-person COMPAS Conference (“Are Markets Progressive?”) but were reformatted as separate webinars in light of the surge in the COVID-19 omicron variant.
Autumn 2021 Events (Recordings Available)
September 17, 2021 - Colloquium: Markets and the Workplace
Zoom webinar - VIDEO
Panelists: Oren Cass (Executive Director, American Compass), Arindrajit Dube (Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst); moderator Benjamin McKean (Political Science, Ohio State).
October 8, 2021 - Colloquium: Markets and the Family
Thompson Library 165, plus livestream - VIDEO
Panelists: Ann Cudd (Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh), Maxine Eichner (Law, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill); moderator Lyn Tjon Soei Len (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Ohio State).
October 29, 2021 - Colloquium: Are Markets Liberating?
Zoom webinar - VIDEO
Panelists: Felicia Wong (President and CEO, Roosevelt Institute), Matt Zwolinski (Philosophy, University of San Diego); moderator Eric MacGilvray (Political Science, Ohio State).
November 30, 2021 - Colloquium: John Stuart Mill, Socialism, and the Open Society
Zoom webinar - VIDEO
Panelists: Helen McCabe (Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham); moderator Piers Turner (Philosophy and Director of CEHV, Ohio State).