Drawing simultaneously on moral insights from defenders of economic liberty such as F. A. Hayek and advocates of social justice such as John Rawls, Dr. Tomasi presents a theory of justice that is committed to both limited government and the material betterment of the poor. He argues that property rights are best defended not in terms of self-ownership or economic efficiency but as requirements of democratic legitimacy. He has written a book, Free Market Fairness, that offers a "market democratic" conception of social justice. In the book, he argues that free market fairness is also a distinctively American ideal, prominent in America's founding period, that protection of property and promotion of real opportunity are indivisible goals. Free market fairness is social justice, American style.

Dr. Tomasi’s book led him to travel to Chile to speak on market democracy and, to his surprise, he ended up having lunch with the country’s president, Sebastián Piñera. This has resulted in a yearlong project that could see the market democracy model, which incorporates social justice and private economic freedom, applied at the policy level in Chile.

For a complete list of speakers, topics, and dates of the Free Markets: The Ethical Economic Choice speaker series visit heritage.org/free-markets.