John Plender at Chichester Speakers Festival

In the West, capitalism has lifted millions out of poverty. The trail blazed by Japan is being followed by other emerging market countries across the globe, creating prosperity on a breath-taking scale.  Yet capitalism is unloved and voices compete to point out that the system allows powerful elites to grab an ever larger share of the collective wealth.

 

Plender explores the paradoxes inherent in this mechanism. Taking us on a journey from the Venetian merchants of the Middle Ages to the gleaming temples of commerce in 21st-century Canary Wharf, via the South Sea Bubble, Dutch tulip mania and manic-depressive gambling addicts, Plender shows us our economic creation. Along theway, he delves into the ethics of debt, reveals the truth about the artistic giants who pioneered copyrighting and examines why entrepreneurs may be perceived as greedy, unethical opportunists, while manufacturing, by contrast, is considered innately virtuous.

 

John Plender has been a senior editorial writer at the Financial Times since 1981 and a broadcaster for the BBC and Channel Four.

 

A Q&A session will follow.

 

Tickets: £8 early bird or £9.50 plus booking fee or phone the box office on 0333 666 3366