Richard M Salsman

Dr. Salsman is president of InterMarket Forecasting, Inc., an assistant professor of political economy at Duke University and a senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. Previously he was an economist at Wainwright Economics, Inc. and a banker at the Bank of New York and Citibank. Dr. Salsman has authored three books: Breaking the Banks: Central Banking Problems and Free Banking Solutions (AIER, 1990), Gold and Liberty (AIER, 1995), and The Political Economy of Public Debt: Three Centuries of Theory and Evidence (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017). In 2021 his fourth book – Where Have all the Capitalist Gone? – will be published by the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also author of a dozen chapters and scores of articles. His work has appeared in the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Reason Papers, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, the Economist, the Financial Post, the Intellectual Activist, and The Objective Standard. Dr. Salsman earned his B.A. in economics from Bowdoin College (1981), his M.A. in economics from New York University (1988), and his Ph.D. in political economy from Duke University (2012). His personal website is richardsalsman.com.

The Multiyear Decline in US Economic Freedom

Economic freedom in the world has plunged in recent years, due mainly to the interventions and fiscal-monetary profligacy associated with COVID shutdowns, mandates, and subsidies. The global measure is given in Figure One. This is a significant reversal of freedom’s...
Fallout from the Trade Wars

Fallout from the Trade Wars

The president pledges to “make America great again,” which is a crucial and noble sentiment. But protectionism only hurts rather than helps do that job.

Scott Brown: A Mere Speed Bump on the Conservatives’ Road to Serfdom

Scott Brown: A Mere Speed Bump on the Conservatives’ Road to Serfdom

Most polls in recent years reveal that Americans believe the country is “on the wrong track.” That’s surely true — and both political parties are taking them there. Yet few people know what the right track actually entails. It’s time to pave a new road entirely — not the road to serfdom, but a purely capitalist road, undergirded by a selfish-individualist ethic.

Altruism: The Moral Root of the Financial Crisis

Altruism: The Moral Root of the Financial Crisis

The financial crisis is, fundamentally, a moral crisis. To end the crisis, we must acknowledge that government intervention caused it, and we must demand that the government begin removing its coercive hands from the economy. With an eye to the short term, we must demand that it scale back the powers of the GSEs, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC; and with an eye to the long term, we must demand that the government abolish these agencies entirely and restore a gold standard run by private, currency-issuing banks subject solely to the objective commercial and bankruptcy codes.

Obama’s Plans Will ‘Work’ — To Breed Servile Dependence

The political left-wing in America and most Democrats are hopeful, even gleeful, that “Obamanomics” might “vanquish” Reaganomics,[1] that tax-hiking, pork-dispensing schemes aimed at boosting consumption and government (a la John Maynard Keynes)[2] will displace...

Another Nail in the Coffin for Property Rights

The U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that it's perfectly legitimate for a local government to seize private property, pay a below-market price and hand it over to another private citizen or company that claims it can do more with the property -- i.e., better develop...

Dispelling Some Crude Myths About Oil’s Real Impact

Economists are beginning to panic about the recent run-up in the oil price (+36%, year to-date, to $44.4/barrel) and its likely future impact on stock prices, profits and output in the U.S. But there's no reason to panic. A fast-rising oil price is no necessary...

Persecution of Microsoft is Immoral

Persecution of Microsoft is Immoral

The government's persecution of Microsoft continues unabated. The U.S. appeals court is now considering whether the Bush administration and 19 states negotiated an adequate settlement in their antitrust case against Microsoft. It's time for the American public to...

Turning Iraq Into Another Iran

Many commentators have remarked recently that the U.S. stock market has not rebounded by as much as they expected, especially given the recent, rapid U.S. military success in Iraq. But these observers fail to recognize that the market is forward-looking -- and fail to...

Deflation Myth

U.S. Federal Reserve officials, including Fed chairman Alan Greenspan, and commentators in the financial media have been worrying about deflation (a rise in the purchasing power of a currency) in recent years and months. It's hard to figure why. Not only is deflation...

U.S. War on Iraq is Morally Legitimate

CAP MAG EXCLUSIVE: As the U.S. military stands poised (finally) to wage war against the Iraqi regime -- merely one spoke in the "Axis of Evil" -- critics of the Bush Administration and apologists for terror regimes claim that there's been a "failure of diplomacy." The...

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