The free market economy is, whether we want it or not, a central aspect of our lives. The bad side effects – like burnouts, the growing gap between rich and poor and climate change – start to become clearer. So to which end do we have this free market economy? Why do we work so hard? Can’t we just work fifteen hours a week like Keynes once predicted?

The alternative that Govert Buijs proposes in the lecture above – given on 19 February 2020 at Erasmus University Rotterdam – is a ‘Joyful Economy’, which is an economy that serves the people instead of the other way around. He discusses ideologies and systems that are man-made and have a great influence in the way we organize our society and politics. More in particular he speaks about ideas that, like some kind of Frankenstein creature, take a turn against us and gives us a headache instead of serving us. Does an economic system exist that is sustainable, circular and inclusive?

About Govert Buijs

Govert Buijs is Endowed Professor Political Philosophy at VU Amsterdam and Christian Philosophy at Erasmus University Rotterdam. His research comprises the relation between moral markets and possibilities to humanize the economy. Last year his book Waarom Werken We Zo Hard? Naar een Economie van de Vreugde (“Why Do We Work So Hard? Towards an Economy of Joy”) was published by Boom Uitgevers. He was also co-author of the book Het Goede Leven en de Vrije Markt (“The Good Life and the Free Market”), which was published in 2018 and won the Socratesbeker 2019 for the best Dutch public philosophy book.

Lecture Series ‘The Future of the Market Economy’

This lecture is the first episode in a series of lectures “The Future of the Market Economy” that will be organized in the Netherlands in 2020. The lecture series – an initiative of Moral Markets – investigates how a free market can be organized in which economic growth is no longer the central goal. This fist lecture was organized in collaboration with and hosted by Studium Generale of Erasmus University Rotterdam.