Courtesy of Flickr
Courtesy of Flickr

Famed economist Richard Wolff gave a 90-minute talk about Marxism to UC Riverside students and community members this past Thursday.

“Maybe the U.S. can do better than capitalism,” Wolff argued throughout his talk, calling the economic system one of gross inequality. Throughout the speech, Wolff consistently drove home the point that terms such as capitalism and socialism should be studied more closely by American institutions and should not be immediately shunned.

UCR Professor Mike Davis also spoke during the event and asked students to rethink their current economic system and to ask themselves whether or not it truly guarantees education, food and health security.

Wolff spoke to the Highlander about what he hopes the UCR student body gets out of his presentation. “(I hope) to open up the conversation,” he said. “Economics, like the other departments, ought to have a broad range of perspectives, allowing students to hear the different points of view.”

Wolff holds economics degrees from Harvard, Stanford and Yale and is currently touring different universities around the nation, lecturing on Marxian economics. He also hosts the radio program, “Economic Update.”