The chief goal of society should be to maximize wealth, according to Tyler Cowen. Pursuing that goal has delivered everything from nutritious and abundant food to air conditioning and smartphones in the developed world, and those benefits are spreading rapidly to the developing world. We’ll look at whether Cowen’s single-minded focus on growth make sense and what it means for investors.

About Larry Siegel

Larry Siegel is the Gary P. Brinson Director of Research for the CFA Research Foundation. Prior to that, he was director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation. He is a member of the editorial boards of The Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Portfolio Management and The Journal of Investing and serves on the board of directors and program committee of the Q Group. He has also won three Graham and Dodd awards from The Financial Analysts Journal and two Bernstein-Fabozzi/Jacobs Levy awards for outstanding articles in The Journal of Portfolio Management.