Jim Powell is an American author and senior fellow 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

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

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 ...

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 ...

He is the author of several controversial books about American presidents, including ''FDR's Folly'' and ''Wilson's War''. His articles have appeared in ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''American Heritage'', and many other national publications. He is based in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

Biography

Born in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

and growing up on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, Powell attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

where he earned a B.A. in history. As an editor of the student quarterly ''New Individualist Review'', helping publish articles by several future

Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...

s. Powell also worked as a researcher for future Nobel Laureate Ronald H. Coase. In 1976, Powell began to publish his writings, with early books primarily focused on topics about the art market, commercial real estate, and Japanese finance. By the late 1980s, he began to author books on libertarian issues. Powell has been a part of multiple libertarian

Think Tanks 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-gov ...

, including

. He has been associated with Cato since 1988. He has also done work for the Manhattan Institute, the Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the National Right to Work Committee and Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. Powell is a published author, writing several books on the

unintended consequence In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences, more colloquially called knock-on effects) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was po ...

s of presidential policies, including ''FDR's Folly'', a critical look on

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

policies. He has also given talks at American universities such as

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and Stanford, as well as internationally.

Books

* ''The Fight For Liberty, Critical Lessons From Liberty's Greatest Champions Of The Last 2,000 Years'' (2012) * ''Greatest Emancipations, How the West Abolished Slavery'' (2008) * ''Bully Boy: The Truth about Theodore Roosevelt's Legacy'' (2006) * ''Wilson's War: How Woodrow Wilson's Great Blunder Led to Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and World War II'' (2005) * ''FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression'' (2003) * ''The Triumph of Liberty: A 2,000-Year History Told through the Lives of Freedom's Greatest Champions'' (2000) * ''Gnomes of Tokyo'' (1988) * ''Risk, Ruin and Riches: Inside the World of Big-Time Real Estate'' (1986) * ''An Investor's Guide to Under-Valued Art and Antiques'' (1983)

References

External links

About Jim Powell

Cato Institute Biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Jim Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Chicago alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American libertarians Libertarian historians American political writers American male non-fiction writers Cato Institute people