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And my faith in Freakonomics is restored...

Levitt points his readers to this wonderful speech by Bill Gates on 'creative capitalism'. It's clear that Gates is both a realist and an optimist and in the speech he makes a great case for a system that harnesses the power of capitalism to serve the greater good. Given the mistaken view of many people that self-interest is incompatible with altruism, it's really wonderful to hear someone give such an articulate explanation of why they are not. I'm definitely going to have my students all read this!
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