Donald Joseph Boudreaux (born September 10, 1958) is a libertarian American economist, author, professor, and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the

Mercatus Center The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. The Mercatus Center is located at the George Mason University campus, but it is privately funded and its employees are independent of the university. It ...

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

Early life and education

Boudreaux received a Ph.D. in economics from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in 1986 with a thesis on "Contracting, Organization, and Monetary Instability: Studies in the Theory of the Firm". He received a J.D. from the

University of Virginia School of Law The University of Virginia School of Law (Virginia Law) is the law school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 as part of his "academical village", and now ...

in 1992.

Academic career

Boudreaux was an assistant professor of economics at

, from 1985 to 1989. He was an associate professor of legal studies and economics at

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

, from 1992 to 1997, and president of the

Foundation for Economic Education The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative, Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian economics, economic think tank. Founded in 1946 in New York City, FEE is now headquartere ...

, from 1997 to 2001. He is now professor of economics at George Mason University, where he served as chairman of the economics department, from 2001 to 2009. During the spring 1996 semester, he was an Olin Visiting Fellow in Law and Economics at

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

. Boudreaux is an adjunct scholar at the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch ...

, a

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

–based

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

Writings

He is the author of the 2007 and 2012 books ''Globalization'' and ''Hypocrites and Half-Wits'', respectively. He regularly contributes a column to the ''

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib", is the second-largest daily newspaper serving the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. It transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, but rema ...

'' and contributes to the ''Cafe Hayek'' blog.

Quotes

"Economics the social science of how society get along with each other."

Other activities

Boudreaux has lectured in Europe, North America and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

on topics including the nature of law,

competition law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

, and

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...

. He spoke at an Institute for Economic Studies seminar on Europe & Liberty in

Deva, Romania Deva (; Hungarian: ''Déva'', Hungarian pronunciation: ; German: ''Diemrich'', ''Schlossberg'', ''Denburg''; Latin: ''Sargetia''; is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, on the left bank of the river Mureș. It is the c ...

, in 2007. He spoke at the Freedom Summit in 2001 and 2010.

Views and opinions

Boudreaux has criticized

Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (), commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Economics(), is an award in the field of economic sciences adminis ...

laureate

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American New Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He ...

, stating that Krugman frequently "commits elementary errors" when discussing economics. Boudreaux argued in October 2009 that insider trading "is impossible to police and helpful to markets and investors... Far from being so injurious to the economy that its practice must be criminalized, insiders buying and selling stocks based on their knowledge play a critical role in keeping asset prices honest—in keeping prices from lying to the public about corporate realities." In a January 2013 article for ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', Boudreaux and Mark Perry argued that the "progressive trope... that America's middle class has stagnated economically since the 1970s" is "spectacularly wrong". In a similar vein Boudreaux and Liya Palagashvili published an article in ''The Wall Street Journal'' in March 2014 discussing recent scholarship which shows that, contrary to what had been reported before by, wages have not decoupled from productivity in the US and Britain.

Books

* ''Globalization (Greenwood Guides to Business and Economics)'', 2007 * ''Hypocrites & Half-Wits: A Daily Dose of Sanity from Cafe Hayek'', 2012 * ''The Essential Hayek'', 2015 free on kindle

Op-eds

* "Trade Is Not a Job Killer," ''The New York Times'', 3/28/2018. * "'Price Gouging' After a Disaster Is Good for the Public," ''The Wall Street Journal'', 10/3/2017. * "Working Overtime to Avoid the Truth," ''The Wall Street Journal'', 4/7/16. * "The Myth of the Great Wages Decoupling," ''The Wall Street Journal'', 3/6/14. * "The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class," ''The Wall Street Journal'', 1/23/13.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boudreaux, Donald J. 1958 births Living people 21st-century American economists American libertarians The American Spectator people Auburn University alumni Austrian School economists Cato Institute people Clemson University faculty Economists from South Carolina Foundation for Economic Education George Mason University faculty Libertarian economists Mercatus Center University of Virginia School of Law alumni 20th-century American economists Economists from Louisiana People from New Orleans Cornucopians