Founded in 2017 in association with the Mont Hamilton Society

Calendar of Events

AIER’s Bastiat Society program in San Jose, CA provides a platform for scholars and policy experts to share their insights and experiences with the general business community. Our events address sound economic principles, personal freedom, and opportunities created through markets.
To view past events for this chapter, go to the search bar on the Calendar below, and click on the left hand arrow: “Left-Arrow

Chapter Email Signup

To receive invitations and updates from this chapter, simply click below. Then select “The Bastiat Society – San Jose Chapter”

Support This Chapter

To support this chapter, simply click below.

Founding Director

Patrick Peterson brings over 45 years of passion for and experience in ideas on liberty to the Bastiat Society Chapter in San Jose.

Over the years, Pat has produced ten annual Silicon Valley Mises Celebrations. For eight years, Pat led various marketing, sales ops and financial contributions for the internet security leader VeriSign, Inc. He was the Co-Founder and Manager of the Free Market Society of Chicago, which offered seminars and events highlighting great free market economists such as: Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard. Pat also served as the original Development Director for the Heartland Institute, in Chicago IL. His work in fundraising, sales, marketing, event creation and execution helped them grow their founding 20 supporters to over 600 supporters and increased their annual budget over 12 times.

Pat earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University, in Canton NY, as a Multi-Field Major (Economics-History-Government) – which he designed in American Studies.

Contact Information

Email: san-jose@bastiatsociety.com

San Jose, California

Co-Directors

John (Jack) Estill is a Co-Director of the Bastiat Society of San Jose. He has been active in business for many years, starting his own general engineering contracting company in 1986, as well as partnering with several successful development projects. In 1999 he returned to San Jose State University receiving his MA in 2006. He taught there part-time beginning in 2007 where he specialized in Austrian economics and the economics of entrepreneurship, retiring in 2019. He currently pursues his research program and publishing, while providing consulting services to private companies and non-profits.

Corrie Foos is a Co-Director of the Bastiat Society of San Jose.