Dr. Thomas Sowell is a renowned economist, theorist, prolific writer, and Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow in the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

 

He's well-known for his traditional opinions on economic theory, espousing education and hard work as the engines of prosperity and self-sufficiency.

 

Sowell has written on such a broad range of topics that after authoring 49 books and penning several thousand articles in a syndicated newspaper column, in 2002, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal.

 

Early Life

 

Born on June 30, 1930, Sowell was raised in Harlem and attended, without graduating from, the elite Stuyvesant High School in New York. As a young man, he worked in various tedious positions, including jobs in a machine shop and as a Western Union delivery boy, until he was drafted into the Marine Corps and served as a photographer.

 

Sowell attributes the genesis of his migration toward classical economics to his experiences in 1960 as a summer intern for the U.S. Department of Labor. During his internship, Sowell recognized how increasing the federal minimum wage produced higher unemployment rates in Puerto Rico. Those policies ultimately drove the sugar industry off the island, and he has opted for free market principles ever since.

 

Academic Career

 

Sowell taught at various universities after completing his education. As a prolific writer, he has written books on economics, poverty, political science, public education, and race relations, including:

 

• Basic Economics (2014)

• Black Rednecks & White Liberals (2009)

• Charter Schools and Their Enemies (2020)

• Common Sense in a Senseless World (2021)

• Discrimination and Disparities (2019)

• Inside American Education (1993)

• Intellectuals and Society (2010)

• Knowledge And Decisions (2022)

• The Vision of The Anointed (2019)

 

Across his many writings, he definitively proves that parental attention has a far greater impact on a child's intellectual development than discrimination. The same effect can be seen when looking at birth order when determining the statistical impact on success.

 

Values and Knowledge

 

Thomas Sowell demonstrates through verifiable science that the inequalities permeating ethnic minority communities are not due to bigotry and discrimination but are perpetuated by the traits and attitudes inherent to those groups.

 

In addition, his resistance to government handouts to economically and socially disadvantaged groups is based on measurable scientific data that such assistance dissuades self-reliance and independence.

 

It’s through his careful deliberations and crystal clear articulation of thoughtful ideas that he maintains his status as one of this generation's greatest intellectuals, with his contributions to economics, political philosophy, freedom, and social theory.