 I'd like to say a few words about the uniqueness of this conference. The AERC is a very much like other academic economics conferences in format, but it does differ from almost all others in one very important respect, whereas a typical economics conference is not particularly amenable, to say the least, to non-economists. The AERC goes out of its way to welcome people working in business and finance, journalists, clergy, investors, retired persons, students, and anyone else interested in learning about the latest developments in sound economics. This distinctive feature of the AERC is neither accidental nor an arbitrary preference of the organizers. It is part of a deliberate strategy for effectuating political and economic change, which was developed by Ludwig von Mises. For Mises, for Mises saw that the flourishing and very existence of human society was dependent on the ideas held by people in all careers, occupations, and jobs, from the CEO of a tech company to the day care worker. The essence of society is the division of labor directed by the market economy, in which all working adults voluntarily participate, but whose ideological and institutional foundations the participants can only really fully comprehend through a familiarity with basic economics. Mises wrote, and I think he summed it up best, economics is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and everything. It is the path of civilization and man's human existence. Everybody thinks of economics whether he is aware of it or not. In joining a political party and casting his ballot, the citizen implicitly takes a stand upon essential economic theories. Economics cannot remain an esoteric branch of knowledge only accessible to small groups of scholars and specialists. Economics deals with society's fundamental problems. It concerns everyone and belongs to all. It is the main and proper study of every citizen. Now, I once sent a paper to Murray Rothbard, which I explained Mises's strategy on economic education, based on his view that the continued existence of society, which again, he saw as the social division of labor, arrested on the broad public's acceptance of the ideology of the free market. Murray wrote back the following words to me. He says, this reminds me that many years ago, when Hans Sennholz was going to set up a graduate school of economics with Mises as president and himself as dean, Mises kept saying at the board meetings that in addition to developing graduate students and scholars, we should also give mass lectures to businessmen and the outside public. And this is continuing, Murray continuing. I didn't pay much attention at the time, but I see now that Mises was not just looking for financial support. He understood the importance of not just converting theorists and intellectuals, but also businessmen and the general public. We can see now that Mises was making a profound point. And one which the Mises Institute has employed without fully seeing its theoretical significance, end of quote, that was Rothbard. Rothbard wrote those words in 1990. Suffice it to say that since that time, the Mises Institute has fully appreciated the significance of Mises's strategy. And we've deepened our commitment and tailored our programs to this strategy. So this, I think, is something that I actually struggle to articulate for a while, even if I wrote the paper. But I mean, this is why we do what we do. This is why we open our conferences to everyone, to PhD economists and to people who just want to learn about economics. It's important, it goes toward the continued existence of society.