David R. Henderson

The surprising origin of “the dismal science” [Slavery versus Free-market capitalism]

2 Comments / Economics, Philosophy /

Reprising from my interview with economist David Henderson: I asked him how economics came to be called the “dismal science.” The source, he explained, was Thomas Carlyle, the nineteenth-century historian and essayist. The surprising reason for his coining the phrase? Carlyle was attacking free-market liberals for advocating the end of slavery. Free-market liberals argued that […]

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Bleeding-heart libertarianism?

16 Comments / Economics, Ethics /

Jumping into the debate about “bleeding-heart libertarianism” (Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi, Bryan Caplan and again, David Friedman, David Henderson, and others), which seeks to integrate libertarianism with social justice. “Social justice” is one of those vaguely-specified, usually suspect phrases, defined by one defender of BHL as the position that “the moral justification of our

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Profiles in Liberty: Douglas B. Rasmussen

2 Comments / History of Philosophy, Philosophy, Politics /

In this extended interview, philosopher Douglas B. Rasmussen responds to a series of questions (listed below) about his life and work. Dr. Rasmussen is a professor of philosophy at St. John’s University in New York. In addition to the books discussed in the interview, he is the author of articles in American Philosophical Quarterly, The

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David Henderson on seven myths of free markets

Leave a Comment / Business Ethics, Economics, Politics /

I interviewed Dr. David R. Henderson after his talk at Rockford entitled “Seven Myths of Free Markets.” Professor Henderson teaches economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and is a research fellow with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Dr. Henderson also explains the surprising, true origin of “the dismal science.” For more about Professor

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