Anti-Semitism of Certain Famous Economists

J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. rosserjb at jmu.edu
Mon Feb 19 13:46:36 PST 2001


Jay,

The main point of the article is in fact to lay out how widespread and deeply entrenched such "casual anti-Semitism" was among the "educated elites" of the period prior to 1950. He was using these three economists as examples of that elite, although his case is clearly the strongest with regard to Keynes and weakest with regard to Hayek. He also then provided a set of arguments as to why these attitudes among that category of people changed after 1950, including knowledge of the extent of the Holocaust and the needs of US universities that were now globally dominant to emphasize technical competence. Barkley Rosser

-----Original Message-----

From: JayHecht at aol.com <JayHecht at aol.com>

To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>

Date: Monday, February 19, 2001 1:14 PM

Subject: Re: Anti-Semitism of Certain Famous Economists

In a message dated 2/18/01 5:03:26 PM Central Standard Time, rosserjb at jmu.edu

writes:

.

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,

I found the quotes from Keynes a little more credible. But I'm not sure how

far Reder can push his claims. Was Keynes a Nazi? Of course not. Was his

insights tainted by his anti-semitism? I don't think so. Query most

assimilated Jews who went to places like Cambridge, Oxford, or even Cornell

(like my dad) in the 1940s and other universities, and anti-semitism was

pretty much something you had to deal with.

I found the article interesting, but I'm not sure, at the end of day, what we

gain from knowing that "famous" economists are prejudiced assholes.

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