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The Myth of the Robber Barons with Burt Folsom

Foundation for Economic Education · 40.5K views · 2011-07-05 · 1:05:28

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Overview

Hillsdale historian Burt Folsom lectures at a 2011 seminar on the 'robber barons' of the Gilded Age. He argues that figures like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller were market entrepreneurs rather than monopolists.

On Hacker News

HN people offer it as a free-market counterpoint to the standard robber baron narrative.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2014–2020

Topics

World historyMicroeconomics & behavioral economicsUniversity lectures & courses
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robber baronsrockefellervanderbiltfree marketeconomic history

What people said

rollinDyno · 2020-03 · Recommendation

Recently I have really enjoyed: * Joseph Stiglitz on the introduction of informational mechanisms in Economics [1] * Burton Folsom on the myth of robber barons and the great american entrepreneurs of the 19th century. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

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timtas · 2014-07 · Recommendation

Sigh. Ideologues drinking and re-drinking their own bathwater. The thesis of this article is nearly opposite of the truth. Capitalism -- the kind we have evolved (call it socio-crony-capitalism) -- has badly wounded free markets. Here's at least a bit of an antidote: [VIDEO]

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civilian · 2017-05 · Reference

You might get something out of this article: [LINK] If " Capitalism in America means as close to monopolization and price gouging as possible. " is your definition of capitalism, then you're off. (And I think that may be why you're being disagreed/downvoted on.) If you think that monopolization and price gouging is an emergent property of capitalism in America-- well, then, I wanna see some citations. My (radical, libertarian) view that a free market would only leads to monopolies when they're _market monopolies_-- meaning they've already providing the best service, and will continue to do so. The really damaging monopolies only ever come from government-granted powers. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Foundation for Economic Education, played through YouTube.

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