Welcome
As a pupil, I study capitalism closely, rigorously, and comprehensively, in its many dimensions. As a professor, I publish, teach, lecture and debate on all aspects of political economy, with a focus on capitalism. As a practitioner, I analyze, model, and forecast business cycles and capital markets, to guide investment professionals.
I am a capitalist not only as an investor of capital but also as a proponent of capitalism. I consider capitalism to be the most rational, moral, liberal, practical, and sustainable social system. It is based on individual rights, including private property rights, and is, demonstrably, the system of liberty – whether civil, political, or economic. Capitalism is sustainable because it’s practical, practical because it’s moral, and moral because it’s rational. But capitalism cannot survive without solid, positive arguments in its favor. Capitalism is surely controversial, because it counts on and rewards rational egoism, but this is also the ethic that makes it go, makes it thrive, and makes it survive.
At this website I provide a source for important and inspirational ideas pertaining to capitalism, to help us think (and rethink) what makes sense (or not) in our fast-changing world; it’s a central locale for the vast material I’ve produced in recent decades (and will produce in future ones). Here you can also contact me and keep informed of coming works and events; feel free also to request an appearance, a visit, a talk, an interview, or a debate.
Featured Articles
Rent Selling Countries are More Corrupt and Less Wealthy
In the field of political economy in recent decades an important and valuable emphasis has been placed on “rent seeking,” defined as pressure groups lobbying for (and getting) special favors (bestowed on themselves) and disfavors (imposed on their rivals or enemies). It’s a key theme of “public choice” theorists, who tend to love free markets and constitutionally constrained states.
Real and Pseudo Gold Price Rules (Cato Journal, Winter 2020)
If central bankers today were required to adopt a gold price rule, their jobs would be easier and their performance—along with that of major economies—would improve considerably. Such a rule would anchor policy in the objective features of history’s most famous and durable money. A gold price rule also could foster an efficient transition to an ideal, feasible, and durable international monetary regime. In these and other respects, it outperforms other rules and no rules at all.
Where Have All the Capitalists Gone Essays in Moral Political Economy
Imagine living in a rights-protecting society where individuals are free to create an abundance of life-serving products and services—where scientific and medical innovations are so common that your life expectancy could easily surpass ages we currently only dream of. Richard M. Salsman advocates the basis of such a society—capitalism—in his latest book, Where Have All the Capitalists Gone? Essays in Moral Political Economy. In this collection of sixty-six essays, Salsman describes and examines the requirements of a truly capitalist, fully free society.
The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy
https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=1710
Foundations for Economic Education
https://fee.org/articles/where-have-all-the-capitalists-gone/
