Thomas Leonard on Race, Eugenics, and Illiberal Reformers

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2016

⏱️ 68 minutes

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Summary

Were the first professional economists racists? Thomas Leonard of Princeton University and author of Illiberal Reformers talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book--a portrait of the progressive movement and its early advocates at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The economists of that time were eager to champion the power of the state and its ability to regulate capitalism successfully. Leonard exposes the racist origins of these ideas and the role eugenics played in the early days of professional economics. Woodrow Wilson takes a beating as well.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:09.3	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:13.9	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find
0:18.9	links and other information related to today's conversation.
0:21.7	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:26.1	back to 2006.
0:28.3	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:30.8	We'd love to hear from you.
0:34.8	Today is November 3rd, 2016.
0:36.8	My guest is Thomas Leonard.
0:39.0	Tim Leonard is an historian of economics, specializing in the American Guilier Age and Progressive
0:43.4	Era, and a research scholar in the Council of the Humanities at Princeton University, where
0:48.9	he's also a lecturer in the Department of Economics.
0:51.8	Today we're talking about his recent book, Illiberal Reformers, Race, Eugenics, and
0:58.1	American Economics in the Progressive Era.
1:00.8	Tim, welcome to Econ Talk.
1:02.4	Thanks, Russ.
1:03.4	It's great to be with you.
1:05.3	Your book is fascinating, a little bit alarming.
1:09.3	Way too educational.
1:10.3	I learned a little bit too much about the roots of economist attitudes in the early part
1:18.0	of the 20th century and the late part of the 19th.
	...

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