Next speaker
Deirdre Nansen McCloskey “The Bourgeois Deal: Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich”
Monday, February 23, 2026
6:30 p.m., Jordan Ballroom, Student Union Building, Boise State University
Deirdre Nansen McCloskey is a Distinguished Senior Scholar and Isaiah Berlin Chair in Liberal Thought at the Cato Institute. She’s also Distinguished Emerita Professor of Economics and History and Emerita Professor of English and Communication, University of Illinois – Chicago.
McCloskey is the author of many works, including:
- Why Liberalism Works: How True Liberal Values Produce a Freer, More Equal, Prosperous World for All
- The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for an Age of Commerce
- The Rhetoric of Economics
- The Vices of Economists; The Virtues of the Bourgeoisie
Learn more on McCloskey’s website.
Hosted by the College of Business and Economics, and generously supported through private support, the Spriggs Family Lecture Series is an annual lecture which builds on current curriculum and offerings in support of the ideas of free market economics. The purpose of this event is to provide a forum for our students and community members that encourages and values discussion, research and hands-on learning. The inaugural lecture took place in February 2022. The lectures are free and open to the public. Parking for Spriggs Family Lecture Series is free in the Lincoln Garage.
Past Spriggs Family Lectures
Mark Koyama
Mark Koyama is a professor of economics at George Mason University, research associate at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and Mercatus Center, Senior Scholar. Professor Koyama earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Oxford. At George Mason he is the director of the PPE Concentration.
Michael Munger
Michael Munger is a professor of political science and director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Program at Duke University. He is also a research fellow at the Law and Economics Center of George Mason University and a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.
Watch Michael Munger’s lecture on Boise State Television. Captions and transcript are available on YouTube.
Peter Klein
“Why Entrepreneurs (and Managers) Matter”
Peter Klein is the W. W. Caruth Endowed Chair and a professor of entrepreneurship at Baylor University. He is chairman of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation at the Hankamer School of Business and director of the Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise. He also serves as adjunct professor of strategy and management at the Norwegian School of Economics and the Carl Menger Research Fellow at the Mises Institute.
Watch Peter Klein on Boise State Television. Captions and transcript are available on YouTube.
Robert A. Lawson
Robert A. Lawson is the Jerome M. Fullinwider Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom and the director of the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom at Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business.
Watch Robert Lawson’s lecture on Boise State Television. Captions and transcript are available on YouTube.