Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell (born 1930) grew up in Harlem, served in the Marine Corps and studied economics at Harvard, Columbia and the University of Chicago, where he earned his doctorate under George Stigler in 1968. He says he was a Marxist in his twenties before moving toward free-market economics while studying minimum wages as a government intern in 1960. After teaching at Cornell, UCLA and other universities, he joined the Hoover Institution, becoming a senior fellow in 1980. He has written more than 40 books on economics, race, culture and education, and ended his syndicated column in 2016. He has never held elected office.

Admirers, including classical liberals, libertarians and conservatives, praise Sowell for the originality and breadth of his work, his use of historical and international evidence, and his accessible writing on economics; he received the National Humanities Medal in 2002. Friedrich Hayek praised his ability to turn abstract theory into concrete policy discussion. Critics argue that his books rarely engage the main academic literature and leave out data that cut against his conclusions, citing his writing on minimum wages. Others have faulted his treatment of discrimination, including against women in the workforce, and historian Michael Ondaatje writes that by the 1980s he had become persona non grata in many Black communities.