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Tomáš Sedláček has shaken the study of economics as few ever have. Named one of the "Young Guns" and one of the "five hot minds in economics" by the Yale Economic Review, he serves on the National Economic Council in Prague, where his provocative writing has achieved bestseller status. How has he done it? By arguing a simple, almost heretical proposition: economics is ultimately about good and evil. Economics is touted as a science, a value-free mathematical inquiry, he writes, but it's actually a cultural phenomenon, a product of our civilization. It began within philosophy--Adam Smith himself not only wrote The Wealth of Nations, but also The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Economics not only describes the world, but establishes normative standards, identifying ideal conditions. Science, he claims, is a system of beliefs to which we are committed. To grasp the beliefs underlying economics, he breaks out of the field's confines with a tour de force exploration of economic thinking, broadly defined, over the millennia. He ranges from the epic of Gilgamesh and the Old Testament to the emergence of Christianity, from Descartes and Adam Smith to the consumerism in Fight Club.

Throughout, he starts asking meta-economic questions: What is the meaning and the point of economics? Can we do ethically all that we can do technically? And, more practically, in the business environment of today, does it actually pay to be good?

Tomáš Sedláček´s answer to the last question is affirmative – but will the two other panelists, businessmen with practical experience in Romania, agree? Come and learn what Sebastian Ghiţă, a young, dynamic and successful Romanian entrepreneur, and Raymond A Breden, the President of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, think about it.

Your questions and comments during this interactive meeting with the three experts, moderated by Luminiţa Oprea, will be most welcome.

Admission to the panel discussion is free, please confirm your attendance at: bucharest@embassy.mzv.cz. The registration starts at 9:30 and the morning coffee will be served. During the book presentation refreshments will be served.

Tickets for the theatre show based on the book „Economics of Good and Evil“ are available at Odeon Theatre: Calea Victoriei nr. 40-42, Dst 1, Bucharest, http://www.teatrul-odeon.ro/adrese.htm, rezervari@teatrul-odeon.ro, Tel: 021 314 72 34 after the 13th September 2011.