Don Boudreaux

Professor of Economics
George Mason University
Professor Donald J. Boudreaux was the Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, from August 2001 to August 2009. Previously, he was president of the Foundation for Economic Education (1997-2001); Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Economics at Clemson University (1992-1997); and Assistant Professor of Economics at George Mason University (1985-1989).
During the Spring 1996 semester he was an Olin Visiting Fellow in Law and Economics at the Cornell Law School. His PhD in economics is from Auburn University (1986) and his law degree is from the University of Virginia (1992).
He has lectured, in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe, on a wide variety of topics, including the nature of law, antitrust law and economics, and international trade. He is published in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Regulation, Reason, Ideas on Liberty, The Washington Times, The Journal of Commerce, the Cato Journal, and several scholarly journals such as the Supreme Court Economic Review, Southern Economic Journal, Antitrust Bulletin, and Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking.
He is the author of Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2008) and has a blog with Russ Roberts entitled Cafe Hayek.
Blog Posts
Won’t someone think about the disemployed steel workers?
Joe works in a Pennsylvania steel mill. Many of Joe’s fellow Americans start buying more imported steel and, hence, less American-made steel. Because of this change in trade patterns, Joe…Explaining the Protectionist Instinct
One of the gravest economic mistakes that humans can make is to forget that ours is unavoidably a world of scarcity.
Learn More...The rules of trade
One of the most egregious misunderstandings about trade is that the government of country A should allow its people to trade freely with peoples of other countries only if governments…Against international economics as a sub-discipline
Only individuals, separately or in voluntarily formed groups such as firms, trade; countries as such do not trade.
Learn More...Capitalism & slavery
The most far-fetched myth that I’ve encountered recently is that the wealth of the modern Western world, especially that of the United States, is the product of slavery.
Learn More...Mercantilist Burglars
This thought experiment will help you wrap your head around the inanity of Trump’s trade policies.
Learn More...How transactions that raise America’s trade deficit enrich Americans
Suppose that Smith, your neighbor in New Haven or your friend in Fayetteville, produced a lot of auto parts that consumers voluntarily bought at prices that earned for Smith a…More questions for Trump and other protectionists and mercantilists
Donald Trump is a protectionist like many other politicians, save that he unfurls his vast economic ignorance more fully and more proudly than do more seasoned politicians. I’ve more questions…Non-youers’ trade deficit with you
You earn $1,000 this week. You spend $650 on consumption items (rent, food, gasoline, a new pair of jeans) and save – you admirably prudent person you – $350. You…Spontaneous cooperation is why your life rocks
The work you do probably does not produce something you could consume. Even more striking is the fact that almost everything you consume is something you could not possibly produce. Your daily life depends on the cooperation of hundreds of millions of other people.
Learn More...Defending Middlemen
Each consumer is free, on his or her own, to visit farms and factories and processing plants in order to purchase items directly from producers. But, of course, such visits would be enormously time consuming and would cost quite a lot in airfare and other travel expenses. We know that retailers and other middlemen perform valuable services because we observe consumers, everyday, voluntarily paying for these services.
Learn More...Science: A Short Story
Several years ago Uncle Sam declared Jones, a man in his mid-40s, to be uniquely entitled to retire immediately at double his real annual income of $100,000 for life. Jones…Protectionism is Robbery
Protectionism is the belief that domestic producers have a higher claim to your money than you do.
Learn More...Minimum-Grade Legislation, Revised Edition
The real minimum wage is zero, despite the best efforts of the economically illiterate public sector do-gooder.
Learn More...Why the Worst Get On Top: Class of 2016
Duke University’s great historian of thought and Hayek scholar Bruce Caldwell sent the following e-mail to me, which I share here with Bruce’s kind permission (link added): Has anyone in the…Louisiana Floods Reveal Age Old Broken Window Fallacy
Keynesian prognostication aside, natural disasters are always bad for economic growth.
Learn More...