Victor Claar joins us to discuss the social, economic, and ethical aspects of the sin of envy. Greed is often said to be the characteristic sin of capitalism, but envy, the great sin of socialism, is often overlooked as a threat to social flourishing. Dr. Claar will draw on both the wisdom of the Christian tradition’s long reflection on envy as well as the findings of contemporary economics to explore this perennial danger to the free and virtuous society.

Dr. Victor V. Claar (Ph.D., West Virginia University) is a professor of economics at Henderson State University, the public liberal arts college of Arkansas, where he specializes in teaching principles of economics courses. He is also coauthor of Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices. Prior to arriving at Henderson, he was an associate professor for nine years at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. He spent the 2006-07 academic year as a Fulbright scholar, giving graduate lectures and conducting research at the American University of Armenia. His research interests include transnational entrepreneurial attitudes, ethics and economics, and applied microeconomics. He has written articles for Applied Economics, Public Finance Review and the Journal of Markets & Morality, among others. Dr. Claar recently wrote a book on fair trade for the Acton Institute, entitled Fair Trade? Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution.