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Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

DanielMuff — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:17:03 GMT

I had an econ class with a Friedmanite who actually studied under Friedman. He was very pro-market and pro-Fed.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Matticus Rex — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 07:25:42 GMT

I had a few near-right political science professors in undergrad... as well as several from the far left. My intro economics teacher was a Keynesian, but apparently there are several Austrians in the department whom I unfortunately managed to miss.

I'll be going to a HBC for law school, and I'm afraid that may mean my views will be quite unappreciated, though I hope to be pleasantly surprised. I'd just rather that we stayed on the subject of law and far from that of politics.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Stephen Adkins — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:34:15 GMT

Accounting major here, so I've generally had people who at least recognize the value of profits/private property etc. But I've also dabbled in poli sci and english, and as one would expect there were nothing but leftists there. Haven't had the good fortune of learning from any actual free market supporters though (which is why this site is where most of my real education happens!)

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

NonAntiAnarchist — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 06:16:56 GMT

The wisest, most well read professor I've yet had seemed to be a chicago-ite (reaffirming was his U Chicago education) of the Posner variety. He once spoke on the Great Depression and presented all the common theories, but explicitly endorsed the standard monetarist interpretation (lack of liquidity by the Fed). While he was both skeptical and surprised when he read my paper on ABCT (it was a polysci class, but I convinced him that monetary issues were a matter of public policy :P), he seemed to appreciate me introducing him to a new idea, and he certainly seemed appealed, especially since he was already of the non-interventionist mindset.

I think if he were to have someone convincing educate him of Austrian theories, he'd warm up to the them. Just about all my other teachers were either politically apathetic or progressive. My economics teacher is barely more sane than a Zeitgeist supporter >.<

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

BrianAnderson — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:31:16 GMT

All of my professors blame capitalism for everything. I contacted the head of one department to discuss whether he'd be interested in overseeing my senior thesis on what a stateless society would look like with a capitalistic economy, though, and he seemed really interested, so we'll see where that goes.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Michelangelo — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:18:41 GMT

I suspect the Department Chair at my University is a closest anarchist of the David Friedman variety, and in general the faculty has a good majority of libertarians.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Angurse — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:58:14 GMT

My econometrics professor was extremely free market and, while political philosophy didn't come up much, a few of my engineering professors frequently made snide remarks about certain government regulations and standards.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

krazy kaju — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:52:05 GMT

My intermediate macro prof last semester was a monetarist. Very libertarian, at least by "mainstream" standards. He supported central banking and the bailouts though. :-|

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

FunkedUp — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:49:44 GMT

You guys are lucky.

I suppose it also depends on what your major is. I don't think there are very many free market supporters in the social sciences. I guess it doesn't make very much sense for an anthropologist, sociologist, or historian to be a capitalist. These fields are almost exclusively dominated by Marxists, Fabians, and the Progressives.

However, in certain fields, like computer science for example, libertarianism is much more pronounced - at least to me it looks that way. I'm pretty sure that there are a couple computer science majors on these forums. Maybe they can attest to what I'm saying???

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Libertyandlife — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:47:34 GMT

I wish I could've met the man.

David Friedman is still alive, and it would be like meeting Rothbard to me. I wonder if there is anyway to know if he'll be any lectures or speeches around my area. Walter Block, or Jeffrey Tucker would be pretty cool to meet too.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Gipper — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:42:17 GMT

I had a Chemistry prof a long time ago who had a picture of him and Rothbard in a picture together. Couldn't believe it.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Libertyandlife — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:41:30 GMT

I have two conservative professors this semester. I was talking to one of them after class, we were talking about business and economics. He really seems to like me, especially after he found out I knew who Hayek was. He said I should stop by his office some time.

The other one says he's a republican, but he says he supports legalizing pot and gay marriage. Sounds pretty libertarian to me (though I challenged him about legalizing all drugs in class, and HE LOST the argument).

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

MrSchnapps — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:38:06 GMT

My philosophy professor is a libertarian, and most of my other professors seem to 'like' the idea of private property, but they end up embracing all sorts of other absurdities, like a heavily mixed economy, and giving occassional credence to portions of Marxist dogma.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Blueline976 — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:27:08 GMT

In college, not yet. But in high school, one of my study teachers (who was a math teacher) was a libertarian.

Re: Have any of you taken a class from a free market supporting professor?

Laotzu del Zinn — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:21:54 GMT

<~~ Me. And I went to a pretty lefty college. We had pro market and anti-market supporters. Most weren't really that political when it didn't call for it tho. I spent a lot of time arguing with one professor about the differences between government and business beuaracracies.

/shrug