George Soros lectures on Capitalism versus an Open Society
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October 30th, 2009 by Prieur du Plessis, Investment Postcards from Cape Town
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This post features video recordings of a lecture series by George Soros at the Central European University in Budapest, discussing capitalism versus an open society.
Part 1:
Soros explores the “agency problem” and its impact on both markets and politics. The principal-agent problem, in which those who are to represent others tend to place their interests ahead of those they are supposed to represent, poses a risk to ethical considerations, and in Soros’s view undermines values necessary for the operation of an open society.
Click here or on the image below to view the video clip.
Part 2:
He analyzes the agency problem inherent in the American political system. He believes the main culprit is a decline in public mortality which he says is fostered by the rise of market fundamentalism.
Click here or on the image below to view the video clip.
Part 3:
Soros states that while capitalism is not directly opposed to an open society, it poses a major threat to its survival. Because of opposition, he believes market and political participants should operate in separate spheres. Soros summarizes the lecture with a postulate that a focus on the “cognitive function” and on focusing on the public good will allow representative democracy to function better, and even only a small number of adherents to this would allow a new middle ground to be rediscovered.
Click here or on the image below to view the video clip.
Click here for a transcript of the lecture.
Source: Financial Times (here, here and here), October 29, 2009.
Dr. Prieur du Plessis is an investment professional with 26 years' experience in investment research and portfolio management. More than 1,200 of his articles on investment-related topics have been published in various regular newspaper, journal and Internet columns, including his blog, Investment Postcards from Cape Town. He has also published a book, Financial Basics: Investment. Prieur is Chairman and principal shareholder of South African-based Plexus Asset Management, which he founded in 1995. The group conducts investment management, investment consulting, private equity and real estate activities in South Africa and a number of foreign countries. He also serves as Honorary Consul of Slovenia for South Africa, actively developing economic, cultural and scientific relations between Slovenia and South Africa. Prieur is 54 years old and live with his wife, television producer and presenter Isabel Verwey, and two children in Cape Town, South Africa. His leisure activities include long-distance running, traveling, reading, motor-cycling and scripophily. Read more from the author/contributor here.
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Tags: Adherents, Advertisement, Budapest, capitalism, Cognitive Function, Culprit, Decline, European Capitalism, Financial Times, George Soros, Lecture Series, Market Fundamentalism, Mortality, Opposition, Participants, Principal Agent, Representative Democracy, risk, Separate Spheres, Survival, Video Clip, Video RecordingsPosted in Markets |
