Letter 1
From: Maria L.
Sent: Thursday, October 08, 2020 9:07 PM
Subject: Student Reporter with Questions
Dear Dr. Block,
I am a student reporter for The College Fix, a daily news website devoted to higher education. I am writing an article about Mitchell Langert’s study. The abstract for the study reads as follows:
“The American Economic Association (AEA) is the premier national organization for professional economics in the United States. This paper shows that the AEA is nearly devoid of Republicans, though many Republicans are found among its membership, which remains open to all who pay the membership dues. I find that the political skew increases up the AEA hierarchy. I use voter registration and political contribution data to examine what I call ‘players’—AEA officers, editors, authors, and acknowledges (that is, those thanked in published acknowledgments). For AEA players, the Democratic:Republican ratio is 13:1 in voter registrations and 81:1 in political contributors. The most influential professional association of economists in the United States is dominated by people on the political left.”
I wanted to reach out to you for a comment for my article.
Thank you for your time.
Maria Lencki
Letter 2
On Thu, Oct 8, 2020 at 10:13 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Maria:
How can I be of help to you?
I regard Prof. Mitchell Langbert as the gold standard of this type of analysis.
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 3
From: Maria L.
Sent: Friday, October 09, 2020 11:33 AM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Student Reporter with Questions
Dear Dr. Block,
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. I just wanted to ask for your comment and perspective on the study for my article. Anything you would like to share for my article would be greatly appreciated.
Maria Lencki
Letter 4
On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 3:07 PM Walter Block <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Maria:
Mitchell Langbert is VERY accurate in his analysis. I think he nails it, insofar as the economics profession is concerned.
Do you have a specific question to want to ask me?
Best regards,
Walter
Letter 5
Do you believe there could be a solution to this? If so, do you have any suggestions?
<<< Yes, the solution is for universities to hire conservative and libertarian professors. This might be imposed by the boards of directors of universities. We need affirmative action, ideological diversity
Anything you would like to add would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much
Maria Lencki
Letter 6
Dear Maria:
See below.
Best regards,
Walter
From: Maria L.
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2020 8:08 PM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Student Reporter with Questions
Dear Pr. Block,
Thank you so much. A few follow up questions I had are:
Why do you personally believe there are so few conservatives in the AEA?
<<< In my view this is because most intellectuals are left-liberals, and the members of AEA are intellectuals.
Why are most intellectuals lefties? There’s a large literature on this. Here’s a bit of it:
Billingsley, 1998; Block, 2004; Frankel, 1983; Friedman, Manny, 2012; Friedman, Milton. 1985a, 1985b,1985c; Gabler, 1989; Hayek, 1988, 1990; Lefkowitz, 1993; Liggio, 1997; Lilla, 2001; MacDonald, 1998; Mises, 1972; Nozick, 1997; Podhoretz, 2009; Rothbard, 1990; Sombart, 1913 ; Stein and Stein. 1979; Twain, 1898;Van den Haag, 2000/2001
Billingsley, Kenneth Lloyd. 1998. Hollywood Party: How Communism Seduced The American Film Industry In The 1930s And 1940s; Prima Publishing
Block, Walter E. 2004. “The Jews and Capitalism: A love-hate enigma.” The Journal of Social, Political and Economic Studies, Fall, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 305-326; http://tinyurl.com/2zgs5s; http://tinyurl.com/25qdpq; reprinted as: Block, Walter E., 2005. “The Jews and Capitalism: A Love-Hate Relationship.” Business and Religion: A Clash of Civilizations? Nicholas Capaldi, ed. Salem, MA: M&M Scrivener Press, pp. 65-79; https://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block98.html
Frankel, S. Herbert, “Modern Capitalism and the Jews,” Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, 1983, reprinted as “Comment on Milton Friedman’s ‘Capitalism and the Jews’,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute: 1985, pp. 429-442
Friedman, Manny. 2012. “Jews DO control the media.” The Times of Israel, July 1; http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/jews-do-control-the-media/
Friedman, Milton. 1985a. “Capitalism and the Jews,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 401-418.
Friedman, Milton. 1985b. “Reply to Frankel,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, pp. 443-446.
Friedman, Milton. 1985c.”Discussion,” in Morality of the Market: Religious and Economic Perspectives, Walter E. Block , Geoffrey Brennan and Kenneth Elzinga, eds., Vancouver: The Fraser Institute
Gabler, Neal. 1989. An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood; Anchor
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1988. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press
Hayek, Friedrich A. 1990. The Intellectuals and Socialism, Fairfax, VA: Institute for Humane Studies; reprinted from the University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 16, No. 3, Spring 1949; http://mises.org/document/1019
Lefkowitz, Jay P. 1993. “Jewish Voters and the Democrats,” Commentary, April, Vol. 95, No. 4, pp. 38-41
Liggio, Leonard P. 1997. “Market and Money in Jewish and Christian Thought in the Hellenistic and Roman Ages,” An Austrian in France: Festschrift in honour of Jaques Garello, Kurt R. Leube, Angelo M. Petroni and James S. Sadowsky, eds., La Rosa, pp. 283-294 (originally published in The Christian Vision: Man and Morality, T.J. Burke, ed., Hillsdale, MI: the Hillsdale College Press, 1986.
Lilla, Mark. 2001. The Reckless Mind: Intellectuals in Politics, New York: New York Review Books
MacDonald, Kevin. 1998. The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements, New York: Praeger
Mises, Ludwig von. 1972. The Anti-Capitalist Mentality, South Holland, IL: Libertarian Press
Nozick, Robert. 1997. “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism,” in Socratic Puzzles, Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Podhoretz, Norman. 2009. “Why are Jews Liberals?” Wall Street Journal. September 10;
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203440104574402591116901498;
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/116672.html
Rothbard, Murray N. 1990. “Concepts of the Role of Intellectuals In Social Change Toward Laissez Faire.” The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 9, No. 2, Fall, pp. 43-67.
Sombart, Werner. 1913. The Jews and Modern Capitalism, London: Unwin
Stein, Ben and Benjamin Stein. 1979. The View from Sunset Boulevard: America As Brought To You By The People Who Make Television; Basic Books
Twain, Mark. 1898. “Concerning the Jews.”Harper’s Magazine. March;
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Concerning_the_Jews0.asp
Van den Haag, Ernest. 2000/2001. “The Hostility of Intellectuals to Capitalism,” The Intercollegiate Review, Vo. 36, Nos. 1-2, Fall/Spring, pp. 56-63
4:44 am on March 22, 2021
