Jews and Capitalism

A conference on Free Markets and Social Progress held late last month at Jerusalem is the topic of an article in the Jewish Ideas Daily headlined "Jews and Capitalism." Russell Roberts of George Mason University was among the speakers. The Jewish Ideas Daily article begins with the question, "Why are so many Jews discomfited by capitalism—and not merely by the caricature of capitalism as rapacious speculation and exploitative profiteering but by the very idea of organizing an economy along free-market lines?" I'm grateful for the detailed coverage of this conference, which I otherwise wouldn't have known about, but to me the more interesting questions about Jews and capitalism are why are so many Jews so good at it and why are so many people from Jewish backgrounds (Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand) so prominent among its defenders?