Anti-Semitism of Certain Famous Economists

J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. rosserjb at jmu.edu
Sun Feb 18 14:52:48 PST 2001


The Winter 2001 issue of the History of Political Economy (HOPE) has an article bearing the subject heading as its title by Melvin W. Reder. He alleges anti-Semitism on the parts of Keynes, Schumpeter, and Hayek. He also claims that there was a decline in anti-Semitism after 1950.

His claims have triggered a major protest on the Hayek list where it is argued that Reder's argument is based on flimsy arguments and that Hayek never exhibited any anti-Semitism. I think these protests have merit. However, there has been a censoring of any discussion on that list of any aspects of this article other than to allow members of the list to denounce Reder's remarks regarding Hayek.

I think that many on these lists might find the issues raised in this article of interest, even if ultimately the article is to be dismissed as totally misguided hogwash. I would not be raising this if I did not think that at least some of its arguments are not totally unreasonable. Barkley Rosser



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