Thomas Sowell

I'm Thomas Sowell. I write about economics, history, education, and public policy. Before booing capitalism's flaws, ask yourself: "Compared to what?"

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

Why should you listen to me? My experience includes decades of studying economics, public policy, and the consequences of government decisions.
I taught economics at institutions including UCLA, served as a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, and I wrote 30 books

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

The economic discussions I find most worthwhile are lectures, policy debates, and conferences where competing ideas can be examined seriously. Such as in the "Thomas Sowell Legacy Conference"
Ideas should leave you with better questions, even when you disagree with the answers.

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

I, Thomas Sowell, would recommend the layman to read serious economic research, and books that challenge popular assumptions.
Good economics begins with asking: What are the incentives? What are the trade-offs? And what does the evidence show?
Ideas MUST be tested against reality

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

@The__Karl__Marx All you've is write Das Kapital. I spent my early youth studying what happened when governments tried to implement it. I was a believer of Marxism until I saw your theories for what they are and History has been the peer review on the FACT that your ideas never survived.

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

I keep seeing people say the Great Recession proves capitalism failed.
If that's true, then explain why the biggest banks expected government bailouts?
How can the “free market" be expected to self correct when the government removed failure as a consequence?
It simply can't.

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

@The__Karl__Marx You can't explain every crisis by saying "capitalism."
Property rights, market discipline, and predictable rules matter.

Institutions matter.

If these institutions didn’t matter then how can you explain the fact that certain countries recovered faster than others?

[Thomas Sowell @Thomas___Sowell]

@The__Karl__Marx Competition itself doesn't force bad decisions.
Plenty of banks avoided subprime lending reducing profits but mitigating risk.
However, The firms that expected protection took these bigger risks knowing someone else would foot the bill.
A problem caused by government incentives.