Gatton Institute for Study of Free Enterprise Hosts Author Matt Ridley Oct. 9

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 4, 2018) – The Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise (IFSE) at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics is hosting a presentation about optimism and innovation Tuesday, Oct. 9.

The program, which features author Matt Ridley, begins at 6 p.m. in Gatton’s Kincaid Auditorium, Room 111 in the Gatton College Building. The event is free and open to the public.

Ridley is a well-known author on science, the environment and economics.

“The past half-century has seen unprecedented and spectacular progress in human society allowing vast numbers of people to escape poverty, hunger and disease,” Ridley said. “This was the result of innovation, a phenomenon unique to human society and imperfectly explained by economists. I will explore how innovation happens through the exchange of ideas, how it is a gradual, incremental and evolutionary process that cannot easily be planned or prevented. Continuing innovation gives hope that we will continue to solve humankind’s problems, including environmental ones.”

The Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise is dedicated to understanding the role that markets play in the economy and in society. The institute’s mission is to generate intellectually rigorous research and an open dialogue to discover and understand how free enterprise affects peoples’ lives and the well-being of society.