"Vasili is a a big fish in a small pond. And as long as he can keep his life perspective, frame his life in that small pond, he's a fabulous success whose prospects are as bright as they can be." "But once you take him outside of the village, remove him from his property... All of a sudden it's not clear what your buildings and a manufacturing facilities and a investment portfolio really amount to in that kind of context," says Peter Travers. 'He comes to realize that he's been living in something of a fantasy world'
Physician and careful reader Richard Gunderman of Indiana University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Adam Smith and Leo Tolstoy looked at greed. Drawing on Tolstoy's short story, "Master and Man," and adding some Thomas Hobbes along the way, Gunderman argues that a life well-lived requires us to rise above our lower desires. Join Gunderman and Roberts for a sleigh ride into a snowy blizzard, where you won't find your way by following rules, but rather by recognizing what needs to be seen.