Adam Smith Program
Department of Economics · George Mason University
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Invisible Hand Seminar

Established 2011, the Invisible Hand Seminar advances liberal discourse in the spirit of Adam Smith. The seminar meets five Saturdays a semester, 4:00-5:45 PM, Buchanan Hall D180.

Past seminars have featured senior scholars and graduate students working in economics, philosophy, sociology, history, political theory, and law. 

Previous seminar presenters

If you would like to attend a seminar, please write to Erik Matson at ematson@mercatus.gmu.edu.

Schedule for Fall 2025

  1. Saturday, August 30: Max Skjönsberg (Hamilton School, U Florida): Oakeshott on Teleocracy and Nomocracy
  2. Saturday, September 27: Jacob Hall (Ohio State University): Why Lords Went for Luxuries: A Riff on Adam Smith and David Hume
  3. Saturday, October 11: Jonathan Fortier (Cato Institute, Libertarianism.org): The Romantic Retreat: Liberty before and after the French Revolution
  4. Saturday, November 8: Michael Pakaluk (Catholic University of America): The Origin of Our Propensity to Truck, Barter, and Exchange: An Aristotelian Account
  5. Saturday, December 6: C. Bradley Thompson (Clemson Inst. for Study of Capitalism, Clemson University): Americans Turn Rebels, 1765–1776