Adam Smith Lecture: Niall Ferguson - Adam Smith, Globalisation & New World Order, Thurs 30 Nov 2023

Professor Niall Ferguson, MA, DPhil, FRSE, is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard. He is the author of sixteen books, including The Pity of War, The House of Rothschild, Empire, Civilization and Kissinger, 1923-1968: The Idealist, which won the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Prize. He is an award-winning filmmaker, too, having received an international Emmy for his PBS series The Ascent of Money. His 2018 book, The Square and the Tower, was a New York Times bestseller and was also adapted for television by PBS as Niall Ferguson’s Networld.

In 2020 he joined Bloomberg Opinion as a columnist. In addition, he is the founder and managing director of Greenmantle LLC, a New York-based advisory firm, a co-founder of Ualá, a Latin American financial technology company, and a trustee of the New York Historical Society, the London-based Centre for Policy Studies, and the newly founded University of Austin. His latest book, Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, was published in 2021 by Penguin and was shortlisted for the Lionel Gelber Prize. He is currently writing Kissinger, 1969-2023.

Niall gave a special Adam Smith Tercentenary Lecture on 'Adam Smith, Globalisation and New World Order' at Panmure House on Thursday 30 November 2023.

[frankagliotti]

Great insights and wisdom from Niall as always much appreciated.

[stuartegrin]

You really need to look at Patrick Moore’s work on climate change

[AuditorInvestor]

Very interesting about Scotland's miracle economy in the 18th century - perhaps a topic for Niall's next book - would read.

[AuditorInvestor]

24:30 I like how he takes his scotch in between the talk "for purely medicinal purposes" - sounding like Sean Connery too.

[KhorinisandLennox-ddyc]

I love how Wikipedia explains to me what new world order means and that its a conspiracy haha xD
Thank you for the insight!

[julianwilson]

I guess I don't understand the distinction of the institutions that need to change.
I'm not sure I care what the institutions call themselves but I do care what rules they establish and enforce.
There is a referee in both football and rugby, but the difference between the games is dictated by the rules and their enforcement - not whether they have a referee or not.
Surely it's the rules we have to amend?
Of course, the starting position of a society has a big impact on the games that will work (availability of energy, natural resources, low cost labour and their availability, an innovative class, a market for products etc).
Why do we never have an exploration into the options of the rules we could adopt?

[krishnasa]

1:08:52 "My belief is that all problems of the sort that I am describing are not culturally specific, they are not specific to race, religion or for that matter geography they are just about institutions... ." -Niall Ferguson, UATX.

[aihong]

So Niall is saying the invisible hand is a crock and protectionism is needed to protect the moldy and damp ideas of Smith and Mill. What Niall fails to tell his audience is that Deng did not change the Land laws and refute the Communist party. In fact All the leadership of China are evolutionary and adapt whereas the UK and USA are trapped in their anachronistic Monarchy on the one hand and a failed constitution on the other. Too little too late Norway is Rich and Scotland is Poor. China is vibrant and Scotland is declining.

[jiahan]

Is there an essay/book about the topic?

[angusmcangus]

Much as I enjoy listening to Niall Ferguson, he loses me when he talks of climate and CO2. If he were to take the time to look into it I think he would be astounded at the evil intent and persistence of the Great Lie about climate and CO2.

[maori_brotha]

Niall Fergusson - well if economists can predict the future poorly and still get paid, I spose gradiose history lecturers can get paid too!