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The Acton Institute and the Austrian Economics Center are proud to present the Grand Rapids stop of the 2023 Free Market Road Show.

There is no need to describe the many problems and crises of our time. But there is a great need to look at the causes and to refute the simplified and politically opportune explanations. Only if we know exactly what the problems are and how they arose will we be able to find the right solution. New standards have come into force in almost all areas of policy and they are changing our lives, sometimes noticeably, sometimes surreptitiously, but often permanently. Join us as we explore if these new standards are worth striving for.

Together we can create the space needed for the one thing that can secure our prosperity: the free and responsible individual.

This event will be livestreamed from 12:00 PM - 2:30 PM on March 20 for those who cannot join in person.

Dr. Barbara Kolm
Dr. Barbara Kolm
Austrian Economics Center

Director

Dr. Barbara Kolm is the leading female libertarian in Europe, the Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank, and the Director of the Austrian Economics Center.

She is also President of the Hayek Institute, Professor of Austrian Economics at the University of Donja Gorica in Montenegro, and serves on several supervisory boards e.g. Vice President of the Austrian Central Bank; Vienna Insurance Group, Supervisory Board of Wiener Städtische Wechselseitiger Versicherungsverein –Vermögensverwaltung, and Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien. She was appointed Vice-Chair of the UN ITU Focus Group on Environmental Efficiency for Artificial Intelligence and other Emerging Technologies (AI4EE) and Chair of the Thematic Group on the United for Smart Sustainable City Index.

Being a worldwide networker she uses these abilities to promote free-market policies; in addition, she is a frequent speaker on public policy-related issues, especially on deregulation and competition topics, the Future of Europe, and Austrian Economics.

Daniel J. Mitchell
Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D.

Economist

Dan Mitchell is a public policy economist in Washington, DC. His major research interests include tax reform, international tax competition, the economic burden of government spending, and other fiscal policy issues.

He is one of the nation’s leading experts on the flat tax and has been the leading international voice in the fight to preserve tax competition, financial privacy, and fiscal sovereignty. He has decades of experience authoring papers, writing editorials, working with the public policy community, and presenting the free-market viewpoint to the newspaper, television, and radio media.

Dan was a Senior Fellow with the Cato Institute for 11 years and spent nearly 17 years as an economist at the Heritage Foundation. Earlier in his career, he served as an economist for Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon and was Director of Tax and Budget Policy for Citizens for a Sound Economy. For more than three years in the mid-1990s, Dan began every day by co-hosting the morning show on NET, the Political NewsTalk Network. The program, “Mitchells in the Morning,” was available in more than 10 million households, and featured in-depth discussion of current events with elected officials, journalists, pollsters, authors, and public policy experts.

A prolific writer, Dan is the author of The Flat Tax: Freedom, Fairness, Jobs, and Growth and co-author of Global Tax Revolution. In addition, Dan’s work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Washington Post, New York Times, Washington Post, National Review, Villanova Law Review, Journal of Regulation and Social Cost, Forbes, Emory Law Journal, Public Choice, Journal of Financial Crime, Foreign Policy, Pace Law Review, USA Today, Offshore Investment, Playboy, Investor’s Business Daily, Worldwide Reinsurance Review, and the International Tax Planning Association’s Yearbook. He has appeared on all the major networks, including CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX, CNBC, and C-SPAN.

Dan is also an accomplished public speaker and has spoken to a wide variety of groups in dozens of cities and more than 50 foreign countries. Audiences have included the American Farm Bureau Federation, the Bermuda International Business Association, the Business Roundtable, the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Swiss Bankers Association, the National Association of Manufacturers, and dozens of other groups and organizations.

Dan founded the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, an organization formed to protect international tax competition. He also serves on the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review. Born in Mt. Kisco, NY, Dan Mitchell holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia and holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University.

David Hebert
David Hebert, Ph.D.
Aquinas College

Assistant Professor of Economics & Director of the Center for Markets, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship

David Hebert is currently an assistant professor of economics and director of the Center for Markets, Ethics, and Entrepreneurship at Aquinas College.

He graduated with a degree in economics from Hillsdale College in 2009 and then attended George Mason University, where he earned a masters in 2011 and Ph.D. in 2014. During graduate school, he was an F.A. Hayek Fellow with the Mercatus Center and a fellow with the Department of Health Administration and Policy and also worked with the Joint Economic Committee in the U.S. Congress. Since graduating, he has worked as an assistant professor at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Mich., and Troy University in Troy, Ala., and was also a fellow with the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, where he wrote a comprehensive report on federal budget process reform.

His area of expertise lies in public choice and public finance. Specifically, his research aims to address the question of why democracies around the world and throughout history systematically produce tax codes that are long, complicated, and contain numerous loopholes despite universal popular support for tax codes that are short, simple, and contain few (if any) loopholes. His work has appeared in numerous academic forums as well as popular outlets such as The Hill, the Daily Caller, the Ripon Forum, and Investor's Business Daily.

John Chisholm
John Chisholm

Entrepreneur

John Chisholm has three decades of experience as an entrepreneur, CEO, and investor. A pioneer in online marketing research, he founded and served as CEO/Chairman of Decisive Technology (now part of Google), publisher of the first desktop and client-server software for online surveys.

Later, he founded and served as CEO/Chairman of CustomerSat (now part of Confirmit), a leading provider in enterprise feedback management. Today he is CEO of John Chisholm Ventures, a startup advisory, and angel investing group. He is past president and chair of the worldwide MIT Alumni Association, a member of the MIT Corporation (board of trustees), and a trustee of the Santa Fe Institute. He is the author of Unleash Your Inner Company: Use Passion and Perseverance to Build Your Ideal Business. He holds BS & MS degrees in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Dylan Pahman
Dylan Pahman
Acton Institute

Executive editor of JMM, Research Fellow

Dylan Pahman is a research fellow at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty, where he serves as executive editor of the Journal of Markets & Morality. He is author of the book Foundations of a Free & Virtuous Society (Acton 2017). Dylan is a PhD candidate in the Institute for Theology and Liberal Arts at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, London.

Eric Kohn
Eric Kohn
Acton Institute

Director of Marketing and Communications

Eric Kohn is Director of Marketing & Communications at the Acton Institute. In that role, he works to bring Acton's vision of a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles to a wider audience.

He is a producer of the award-winning film The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai's Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom, the newest documentary feature from the Acton Institute, released in 2022. He’s the executive producer of Acton's podcast network where he hosts the weekly roundtable podcast, Acton Unwind, and is a part-time host of Acton Line, Acton's weekly interview podcast.

Eric serves on the Board of Directors of America’s Future, an organization empowers young people to be active, civil, and curious citizens who build freer communities that lead to fulfillment, dignity, and happiness for all. For more than 10 years, he led the organization's Chicago chapter.

Prior to joining Acton, Eric was Director of Community Management at the Illinois Policy Institute, one of the nation's premier state-based think tanks. He was also the Founder and CEO of Curious Task Strategies, a public affairs consulting firm. 

Currently, Eric is the interim host of the nationally syndicated radio program Beyond the Beltway with Bruce DuMont, on which he has previously been a regular program guest and guest host. From 2019 to 2021, he co-hosted Sources with Knowledge along with Joe Kaiser on AM 560 The Answer in Chicago. He previously hosted The Eric Kohn Program on AM 1530 WJJG, and has guest-hosted the nationally syndicated The Guy Benson ShowIllinois Watchdog Radio on Cities 92.9FM in Bloomington-Normal, and Chicago’s Morning Answer on AM 560 The Answer. He has appeared as a guest commentator on Extension 720 with Milt RosenbergThe Michael Koolidge Show, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and on numerous TV news and radio broadcasts across the state of Illinois. Eric’s writings have appeared in the Chicago Sun-TimesThe Detroit News, the Belleville News-Democrat, and other publications.

Eric grew up in Belleville, Ill., and is a graduate of Millikin University in Decatur, Ill. He lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., with his wife and two children.

Event Details

Start Date

End Date

Location

Acton Institute
98 Fulton Street E
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
United States

Schedule

Doors Open - 11:30 AM

Panel 1: Unrestrained Government Spending and Economic Prosperity
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Moderator: David Hebert, Ph.D.
Speakers: Barbara Kolm & Dan Mitchell

Break - 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM

Panel 2: Unleashing the Entrepreneur
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

Moderator: Eric Kohn
Speakers: John Chisholm & Dylan Pahman

Tickets

This is a free event. 

Parking

Directions to the Acton Institute

Metered street parking is available. Please bring sufficient change with you for meters or pay for parking with the Motu Parking app on your smartphone (iOS and Android). 

Paid parking lots are also available nearby. Please enter building off of Sheldon Blvd.

Map of nearby parking