On Wednesday, November 4, the Young Leaders Circle will welcome financial and economic historian Niall Ferguson, who will discuss the claim in his most recent book, The Ascent of Money, that finance is the "foundation of human progress" and the "essential back-story behind all history."

Mr. Ferguson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a distinguished professor at Harvard, is a prolific writer on nineteenth- and twentieth-century world financial history—especially as it affects international relations—and is known for his interest in the use of counterfactuals in historical explanation. He is a contributing editor for the Financial Times and a regular contributor to Newsweek. Several of his books, including The Ascent of Money, have been turned into PBS documentaries. In 2004, Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people.

The Young Leaders Circle will convene on Wednesday, November 4, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Harvard Club of New York, 35 West 44th Street, New York City. Mr. Ferguson will speak at 6:45 p.m. sharp.

The Manhattan Institute launched the Young Leaders Circle to provide a forum for metro-New York professionals in their 20s and 30s who are interested in free-market ideas and public policy. Members are invited to all Young Leaders Circle events and are encouraged to help spread the word. Guests may attend one event for $45 (which will be applied toward their membership if they decide to join).

To attend this event, please email ylc@manhattan-institute.org.

For more information on new or renewal memberships, please visit our website, www.manhattan-institute.org/youngleaders. Checks and credit cards will be accepted at the door as well.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Young Craig
Vice President, Communications & Marketing
Manhattan Institute

Suggested reading on this topic:

Dollar May Drop 20% More, Harvard's Ferguson Says (Update1) by Cordell Eddings and Thomas R. Keene, Bloomberg.com, October 16, 2009

Why a Lehman Deal Would Not Have Saved Us, by Niall Ferguson, Financial Times, September 14, 2009

Niall Ferguson: America Needs to Cancel Its Debt, by Michael Hogan, Vanity Fair, January 20, 2009

The Road to Meltdown (Review of The Ascent of Money and excerpt), by Matthew Rees, Wall Street Journal, November 21, 2008

For those with the time to read:

'Chimerica' and the Global Asset Market Boom, Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick, International Finance, 2007

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, Penguin Press, November 2008

PBS documentary video:

The Ascent of Money