Top 5 Greatest Liberty-Friendly Economists of All-Time

Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell is a more contemporary economist. He publishes works from a libertarian conservative perspective, and is a strong proponent of supply-Side Economics. Supply-side gives the perspective called the “Laffer curve.” It essentially explains that lowering tax rates across the board can generate more government revenue due to the fact that less taxed money can generate more economic activity. This in turn opens up vastly more different opportunities for revenues. Sowell, as well as being a libertarian, is also a National Humanities Medal recipient.

Sowell dropped out of high school and served as a Marine in the Vietnam War. Sowell worked at a civil service job in Washington D.C. and attended night classes at Howard University. He had high scores on the College Board exams, as well as recommendations from two professors, which helped him gain admission to Harvard University. He then graduated from Harvard magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He then earned a Master’s degree from Columbia University the following year. The interesting thing about Sowell is that he openly admits he was a Marxist during his 20’s and wrote a few publications about Marxism and Marxist-Lenin practices. Sowell is a major proponent abolishing minimum wage, explaining that it adversely affects poor people negatively.