Professor David Wootton to deliver the 2017 Besterman lecture

In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith claims that all famines are made by governments – in a free trade economy starvation will never occur. What were Smith's grounds for making this remarkable claim? What did he know about famine? How does Smith's argument relate to Amartya Sen's recent claim that famines never occur in democracies? This lecture catches Smith defending the indefensible for partisan purposes.

The Besterman lecture is an annual event co-hosted by the Voltaire Foundation and the TORCH Enlightenment Programme. 

The lecture will take place on Thursday 18 May 2017 at 5.15pm in the Shulman Auditorium, Queen's College, University of Oxford and is open to all. 

Drinks will be served after the event.