James Gwartney Made Economics Accessible

null By Richard Vedder and Robert LawsonJan. 7, 2024 5:19 pm ETJournal Editorial Report: Edward Lawrence interviews economic strategist Jason Trennert. Images: Getty Images/Bloomberg News Composite: Mark KellyEconomist James Gwartney died Sunday at 83. He made important scholarly contributions, but his role in educating the general public made him truly influential. Three contributions stand out: his textbook, his role in creating the Economic Freedom of the World index, and his (ultimately ill-fated) help in transforming a moribund Russian economy in the early days of Vladimir Putin. “Economics: Private and Public Choice,” coauthored originally with Richard Stroup (1943-2021) and more recently with others, is in its 17th edition. It was the first major textbook to emphasize public-choice economics, introducing the notion of government failure and looking critically at the Keynesian orthodoxy that stresses positive governmental contributions to economic stability and growth. The text

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James Gwartney Made Economics Accessible

null

Richard Vedder

and

Robert Lawson

Jan. 7, 2024 5:19 pm ET

Journal Editorial Report: Edward Lawrence interviews economic strategist Jason Trennert. Images: Getty Images/Bloomberg News Composite: Mark Kelly

Economist James Gwartney died Sunday at 83. He made important scholarly contributions, but his role in educating the general public made him truly influential. Three contributions stand out: his textbook, his role in creating the Economic Freedom of the World index, and his (ultimately ill-fated) help in transforming a moribund Russian economy in the early days of Vladimir Putin.

“Economics: Private and Public Choice,” coauthored originally with Richard Stroup (1943-2021) and more recently with others, is in its 17th edition. It was the first major textbook to emphasize public-choice economics, introducing the notion of government failure and looking critically at the Keynesian orthodoxy that stresses positive governmental contributions to economic stability and growth. The text’s enduring acceptance demonstrates that Keynesian perspectives have lost popularity even among academic economists.