Wednesday, December 6, 2006, the Independent Institute will be hosting the Thomas Szasz Awards and “Liberty and Leviathan: An Evening with Robert Higgs.”
Gala reception and book signing at 6:30 p.m., program at 7:00 p.m.
Originator of the term, “ratchet effect,” to describe increases in State power, Higgs is the author of Crisis and Leviathan, Against Leviathan, Resurgence of the Warfare State and the brand new Depression, War, and Cold War.
Thomas S. Szasz will present Robert Higgs and Robert Spillane with the 2006 Szasz Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Liberty, and then Dr. Higgs will address some of the most important questions of America’s past crises:
- What accounted for the extraordinary duration of the Great Depression?
- What about “wartime prosperity” and whether World War II “got the economy out of the depression”?
- How does war alter relations between government and the leaders of business and labor?
- How do military economies alter the business cycle, as during World War II and the Cold War?
- What is Congress’s role in the military-industrial-congressional complex?
Thomas S. Szasz, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry State University Medical Center Syracuse, is the author of numerous books defending liberty against psychiatric coercion. The renowned author of such seminal works as The Myth of Mental Illness, Pharmacracy, and Ceremonial Chemistry, Dr. Szasz has distinguished himself as the preeminent defender of individual rights for nearly five decades.
The Independent Institute Conference Center
100 Swan Way
Oakland, CA 94621-1428
For a map and directions, click here.
Tickets are $15 per person ($10 for Independent Institute Members)
Reserve tickets by calling (510) 632-1366 or ordering online here.