Human beings have sought to amass wealth but they've also condemned it as a source of human corruption. Social science, theology, and philosophy have long been home to intense debates about the implications of wealth for happiness, virtue, justice, and democracy. Artists and writers, too, have critically explored the relationship between money and humanity.

In a new series of talks, seminars, readings, films and performances, the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, along with several campus partners will explore the ethical questions at the heart of wealth. What is the relationship between financial success and a flourishing human life? Does wealth make people happy? Is inheritance legitimate? Is large wealth inequality fair? Are large wealth inequalities damaging to a democracy? What are the moral obligations of the wealthy to those in need?

More details to be posted as they become available. All Ethics of Wealth events are open to the public.

Winter Events |  Spring Events | Co-sponsors

Fall Events
October 2 / 7:00pm / Tresidder Memorial Union, Oak West New Date OCTOBER 2 (Rescheduled from Oct 3)
"Wealth in the Gilded Age: How Much is Enough?"
Gavin Jones (English, Stanford) & Richard White (History, Stanford)

October 17 / 5:15pm / Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center
"Spiritual Capitalism: The Prosperity Gospel of Oprah Winfrey"
Kathryn Lofton (Religious Studies, Yale)
co-sponsored with the Department of Religious Studies and the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies

October 28 / 10:00am / Memorial Church
“Money and Meaning”
Rev. Canon Rosa Lee Harden (Cathedral of All Souls, Asheville, North Carolina / Co-Founder & Producer, Social Capital Markets)
co-sponsored with the Office for Religious Life

November 1 / 7:00pm / CEMEX Auditorium (we will start promptly at 7:00pm)
"Love & Taxes"
Josh Kornbluth (Monologist)
Faculty talk back after the performance with Joe Bankman (Stanford Law) and Barbara Fried (Stanford Law).

November 15 / 7:00pm / Annenberg Auditorium
“Economic Equity: Challenges in a Diverse Society”
Roger Clay (President, Insight Center for Community Economic Development)

Winter Events
January 17 / 12:00pm / CEMEX Auditorium
"Why I Left Goldman Sachs"
Greg Smith (former Goldman Sachs employee)
co-sponsored with the Graduate School of Business

January 24 / 5:30pm / CEMEX Auditorium
"Income Inequality: Evidence and Policy Implications"
Emmanuel Saez (Economics, Berkeley)

February 28 / 5:30pm/ CEMEX Auditorium CANCELLED
"Poverty In The Context Of Plenty: Life, Death And Hope In A Mumbai Undercity"
Katherine Boo (Author)

March 7 / 5:15pm / Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center
“Wealth Admired; Wealth Hated: Managing Money and Power in Fifteenth-Century Basel”
Laura Stokes (History, Stanford)
co-sponsored with the Department of Religious Studies and the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and the Stanford Humanities Center

March 12 / 4:00pm / Bldg 260 (Piggot Hall), Room 113
"Wealth in Israel: A Conversation with Sayed Kashua" (author and journalist, Haaretz, Isael), Alexander Key (Arabic and Comparative Literature, Stanford), and Vered Shemtov (Hebrew and Comparative Literature, Stanford)
co-sponsored with Division of Languages, Cultures and Literatures; Taube Center for Jewish Studies, the Department of Comparative Literature, and the Gratch Foundation.

March 14 / 7:00pm / CEMEX Auditorium
“Economic Freedom, Wealth and the Alleviation of Poverty”
John Taylor (Economics, Stanford)

Spring Events
April 4 / 5:30pm / Annenberg Auditorium
"Free Market Fairness"
John Tomasi (Political Science, Brown University)

April 9 (panel) / 4:15pm / Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center
"Ethics, Wealth & The Work That Makes All Other Work Possible"
Ai-jen Poo (Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance Director)
Maria Reyes (National Organizer, National Domestic Workers Alliance)
Irene Jor (Stanford undergraduate)
Debra Satz (Philosophy, Stanford)
co-sponsored with The Clayman Institute for Gender Research

April 18 (panel) / 5:30pm / Annenberg Auditorium
"Contemporary Art in the Museum and the Marketplace"
Julia Bryan-Wilson (Modern and Contemporary Art, UC Berkeley)
Amy Cappellazzo (Chairman, Post-War and Contemporary Development at Christie's)
Scott Rothkopf (Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art)
Richard Meyer, moderator (Art and Art History, Stanford)
co-sponsored with the Art & Art History Department, the Cantor Art Musuem, and SiCa

April 25-27 (play) The Nitery
"The Exception and the Rule"
directed by Rush Rehm
Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances.
Tickets are free but you must reserve a seat. Click here to reserve a seat.

May 2 / 6:00pm / Levinthal Hall, Stanford Humanities Center
“Buddha and the Green Goo: How Much Is Too Much?” 
David Loy (Independent Scholar)
co-sponsored with the Department of Religious Studies, the Ho Center for Buddhist Studies, and the Humanities Center

May 16 / 5:30pm / Annenberg Auditorium
"Where is inequality headed?"
Tony Atkinson (Economics, Oxford)
Atkinson's powerpoint presentation

May 21 / 5:30pm / CEMEX Auditorium
"Democracy and Philanthropy" (panel discussion)
co-sponsored with Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS)

May 22 / 12:00pm / location TBA
"Justice, Wealth, Taxes: A View from the Perspective of Rabbinic Judaism"
Aryeh Cohen (Rabbinic Literature, American Jewish University)
co-sponsored with the Taube Center for Jewish Studies and the Department of Religious Studies

Series Co-Sponsors
The participating/sponsoring units include:

• The McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society
• The Stanford Humanities Center
• The Department of Religious Studies
• Ho Center for Buddhist Studies
• The Stanford Creative Writing Program
• The Department of Art and Art History
• Cantor Arts Center
• The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality
• The Office for Religious Life
• Stanford Summer Theater
• Stanford Continuing Studies
• Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts (SiCa)
• Taube Center for Jewish Studies
• President's Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge