Howard Baetjer

Lecturer
Towson University
Howard Baetjer Jr. is a Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, where he teaches courses in microeconomics, money and banking, comparative economic systems, and the history of economic thought. He blogs at freeourmarkets.com. He is the author of Free Our Markets, A Citizens’ Guide to Essential Economics, which explains why people flourish better, the freer the markets they live in. Dr. Baetjer is also a frequent faculty member at IHS Summer Seminars.
Dr. Baetjer earned a B.A. in psychology from Princeton in 1974, an M.Litt. in English literature from the University of Edinburgh in 1980, an M.A. in political science from Boston College in 1984, and a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 1993.
Baetjer was a founding trustee of Children’s Scholarship Fund Baltimore (www.csfbaltimore.org), which provides nearly partial scholarships to low-income Baltimore children, to help them attend private and parochial schools their parents choose.
Students: Want to hear Professor Baetjer in-person? Apply for the free IHS Summer Seminars and spend a week discussing ideas with great faculty and participants from around the world. Find out more.
Blog Posts
How the government ruined health care for those who need it most
If you develop an expensive chronic illness, you might think the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will protect you. Instead, you’re likely to end up with subpar coverage or no coverage at all for your condition.
Learn More...How this screwy IRS policy kickstarted the American health care crisis
As a believer in small government, I usually favor anything that reduces taxes. But this tax break has wreaked havoc on American health care.
Learn More...Who has Walmart shareholders’ wealth?
Many good people condemn the free market system on the mistaken belief that the wealth of the wealthy benefits only the wealthy.
Learn More...Why your boss isn’t ripping you off. Marxism 101 debunked.
Have you ever thought your employer was exploiting you? That the company you work for doesn’t really earn its profits — it just rips off its workers?
Learn More...Immigration policy is first and foremost about property rights
Should governments have a blanket right to exclude immigrants?
Learn More...A Letter to a Minimum Wage Denialist
Dear Ms. Murray, Your article in the Baltimore Sun (“A $15 minimum wage benefits Baltimore business”) almost completely ignores the most important economic argument against minimum wage laws: that they cause…Yes, free speech for fascists — a confession
Free expression is so important that we must tolerate even the expression of opposition to free expression.
Learn More...Baristas with BAs: The result of central planning for schools
Government school systems fail to provide different kinds of instruction as appropriate to different kinds of students in different places and times.
Learn More...Trump’s proposed wall and tax are folly
The idea is wrongheaded on both counts: they would harm citizens of the US as well as those of Latin America.
Learn More...Lunar prisoners fight for freedom in Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
My message to you today is simple: don’t miss this book. There is a lot to be learned about liberty here.
Learn More...The imperfect assumptions of perfect competition
“I learned in economics that in ‘perfect competition’ profits are zero, so any actual profits come from some kind of monopoly power. So how could profits be good?”
Learn More...Senator Tom Cotton and Rep. Mike Pompeo spread four myths about immigration
If we believe in liberty for migrants as well as Americans, we must grant them liberty peacefully to travel the world unmolested and to settle wherever they find homes to rent and enterprises to work for.
Learn More...The Welfare Cliff and Why Many Low-Income Workers Will Never Overcome Poverty
Policies backed with even the best of intentions can still have detrimental effects on those they aim to help. The “Welfare Cliff” is one such example.
Learn More...