George Franklin Gilder (; born November 29, 1939) is an American investor, author, economist, and co-founder of the
Discovery Institute. His 1981 book, ''
Wealth and Poverty'', advanced a case for
supply-side economics and
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...
during the early months of the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
. He is the chairman of George Gilder Fund Management, LLC.
Early years and personal life
Gilder was born in New York City and raised in
New York and
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
. He is a great-grandson of designer
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
. His father, Richard Watson Gilder, was killed flying in the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
in World War II when Gilder was two years old.
He spent most of his childhood with his mother, Anne Spring (Alsop), and his stepfather, Gilder Palmer, on a dairy farm in
Tyringham, Massachusetts
Tyringham is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 427 at the 2020 census.
History
Founded as Housatonic Township Number 1, the land which becam ...
. Palmer, a college roommate of his father, was deeply involved with his upbringing,
as was the family of
David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of the Rockefeller family, ...
, his godfather.
Education
Gilder attended Hamilton School in New York City,
Phillips Exeter Academy, and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, graduating in 1962.
He later returned to Harvard as a fellow at the
Harvard Institute of Politics
The Institute of Politics (IOP) is an institute of Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University that was created to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, as well as to inspire Harvard undergraduates to consider careers in politi ...
, and edited the ''Ripon Forum'', the newspaper of the liberal Republican
Ripon Society
The Ripon Society is an American centrist Republican public policy organization and think tank based in Washington, D.C. It publishes ''The Ripon Forum'', the U.S.'s longest running Republican thought and opinion journal, as well as ''The Ripon A ...
.
Marine Corps
Gilder served in the
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
.
Career
Speechwriting
In the 1960s Gilder served as a speechwriter for several prominent officials and candidates, including
Nelson Rockefeller,
George W. Romney
George Wilcken Romney (July 8, 1907 – July 26, 1995) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as chairman and president of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd gover ...
, and
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
. He worked as a spokesman for the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Senator
Charles Mathias
Charles McCurdy Mathias Jr. (July 24, 1922 – January 25, 2010) was an American politician and attorney. A Republican, he served as a member of the United States Senate, representing Maryland from 1969 to 1987. He was also a member of ...
, as
antiwar
An anti-war movement (also ''antiwar'') is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term anti-war can also refer to ...
protesters surrounded the capital; some eventually scared Gilder out of his apartment. Gilder moved to
Harvard Square the following year, and he became a writer who modeled himself after
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won ...
.
With his college roommate,
Bruce Chapman, he wrote an attack on the
anti-intellectual
Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically ...
policies of the 1964 Republican presidential candidate
Barry Goldwater, ''The Party That Lost Its Head'' (1966). He later recanted this attack: "The far Right — the same men I dismissed as extremists in my youth — turned out to know far more than I did. At least the 'right-wing extremists', as I confidently called them, were right on almost every major policy issue from welfare to Vietnam to Keynesian economics and defense — while I, in my Neo-Conservative sophistication, was nearly always wrong."
Supply-side economics
Supply-side economics was formulated in the mid-1970s by
Jude Wanniski
Jude Thaddeus Wanniski (June 17, 1936 – August 29, 2005) was an American journalist, conservative commentator, and political economist.
Early life and education
Wanniski was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, the son of Constance, who worked at ...
and
Robert L. Bartley at ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' as a counterweight to the reigning "demand-side"
Keynesian economics
Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output a ...
. At the center of the concept was the
Laffer curve, the idea that high tax rates reduce government revenue.
Gilder wrote a book extending the ideas of his ''Visible Man'' (1978) into the realm of economics, to balance his theory of poverty with a theory of wealth. The book, published as the best-selling ''Wealth and Poverty'' in 1981, communicated the ideas of supply-side economics to a wide audience in the United States and the world.
Gilder also contributed to the development of supply-side economics when he served as Chairman of the Lehrman Institute's Economic Roundtable, as Program Director for the Manhattan Institute, and as a frequent contributor to Laffer's economic reports and the editorial page of ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
''.
Technology
In the 1990s, he became an evangelist of technology and the Internet. He discussed emerging trends in several books and his newsletter, the Gilder Technology Report.
The first mention of the word "
Digerati
The digerati (or digirati) are the elite of digitalization, social media, content marketing, computer industry and online communities. The word is a portmanteau, derived from "digital" and " literati", and reminiscent of the earlier coinage ''gli ...
" on
USENET
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it wa ...
occurred in 1992 and referred to an article by Gilder in ''
Upside'' magazine. His other books include ''Life After Television'', a 1990 book that predicted microchip "telecomputers" connected by fiberoptic cable would make broadcast-model television obsolete. The book was also notable for being published by the
Federal Express
FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...
company and featuring full-page advertisements for that company on every fifth page.
Gilder wrote the books ''Microcosm'', about
Carver Mead
Carver Andress Mead (born May 1, 1934) is an American scientist and engineer. He currently holds the position of Gordon and Betty Moore Professor Emeritus of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), ...
and the
CMOS microchip revolution; ''Telecosm'', about the promise of
fiber optics; and his latest, ''The Silicon Eye'', about the
Foveon X3 sensor
The Foveon X3 sensor is a digital camera image sensor designed by Foveon, Inc., (now part of Sigma Corporation) and manufactured by Dongbu Electronics.
It uses an array of photosites that consist of three vertically stacked photodiodes. Each o ...
, a digital camera imager chip. The book cover of the Silicon Eye reads, "How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras, and Cell Phones Obsolete." The Foveon sensor has not achieved this goal and has not yet been used in cell phones.
Gilder is an investor in private companies and serves as the chairman of the advisory board in Israel-based
ASOCS
ASOCS Ltd. is a privately held company,a developer of on-premise cloud solutions for industries such as retail, real estate, hospitality, health, sports and entertainment. ASOCS is also collaborating with mobile network carriers to support the mo ...
that he discovered during his research for ''Israel Test''.
On women and feminism
In the early 1970s, Gilder wrote an article in the ''Ripon Forum'' defending President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's veto of a
day-care
Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...
bill sponsored by Senator
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
(D-Minnesota) and Senator
Jacob Javits
Jacob Koppel Javits ( ; May 18, 1904 – March 7, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he al ...
(R-New York). He was fired as editor as a result.
To defend himself, he appeared on ''
Firing Line''.
Gilder moved to
and worked in the mornings for Ben Toledano, Republican candidate for the United States Senate in 1972 and the party's nominee for
mayor of New Orleans
The post of Mayor of the City of New Orleans (french: Maire de La Nouvelle-Orléans) has been held by the following individuals since New Orleans came under American administration following the Louisiana Purchase — the acquisition by the U.S. ...
in 1970. He also wrote ''Sexual Suicide'' (1973), which was revised and reissued as ''Men and Marriage'' (1986). The book achieved a ''
succès de scandale
''Succès de scandale'' (French for "success from scandal") is a term for any artistic work whose success is attributed, in whole or in part, to public controversy surrounding the work. In some cases the controversy causes audiences to seek ou ...
'' and ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' made Gilder "Male Chauvinist Pig of the Year."
Support for immigration
Gilder has praised
mass immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
as an economic boon in both the
US and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
. Although Gilder's support for mass immigration is framed by
high tech
High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...
hubs such as
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...
's need for computer programmers, he sees recent American immigration policy as being vital to American prosperity overall.
''The American Spectator''
Gilder bought the conservative political monthly magazine ''
The American Spectator
''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor- ...
'' from its founder,
Emmett Tyrrell
Robert Emmett Tyrrell Jr. (born December 14, 1943) is an American conservative magazine editor, book author and columnist. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of ''The American Spectator'' and writes with the byline "R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr."
Bac ...
, in the summer of 2000, switching the magazine's focus from politics to technology.
Experiencing his own financial problems in 2002,
Gilder sold the ''
Spectator'' back to Tyrrell.
Speaking engagements and editorial contributions
Gilder lectures internationally on economics, technology, education, and social theory. He has addressed audiences from Washington, DC, to the Vatican, and he has appeared at conferences, public policy events, and media outlets.
''Wealth and Poverty''
After completing ''Visible Man'' in the late 1970s, Gilder began writing "The Pursuit of Poverty." In early 1981,
Basic Books published the result as ''
Wealth and Poverty''. It was an analysis of the roots of economic growth. Reviewing it within a month of the inauguration of the
Reagan Administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reviewer called it "A Guide to Capitalism". It offered, he wrote, "a creed for capitalism worthy of intelligent people." The book was a ''New York Times'' bestseller, and eventually sold over a million copies.
In ''Wealth and Poverty'', Gilder extended the sociological and anthropological analysis of his early books in which he had advocated for the socialization of men into service to women through work and marriage. He wove these sociological themes into the economic policy prescriptions of
supply-side economics. In his eyes the breakup of the nuclear family and the policies of
demand-side economics
Demand-side economics is a term used to describe the position that economic growth and full employment are most effectively created by high demand for products and services. According to demand-side economics, output is determined by effective de ...
led to poverty, while family and supply-side policies led to wealth.
In reviewing the problems of the immediate past—the inflation, recession, and urban problems of the 1970s—and proposing his supply-side solutions, Gilder argued not just the practical but the moral superiority of supply-side capitalism over the alternatives. "Capitalism begins with giving," he asserted, while
New Deal liberalism created moral hazard. It was work, family, and faith that created wealth out of poverty. "It is this supply-side moral vision that underlies all the economic arguments of ''Wealth and Poverty,''" he wrote.
In 1994, Gilder wrote that the poor in America are "ruined by the overflow of American prosperity" and "moral decay" and that they are in need of "Christian teaching from the churches."
Intelligent design
He helped found the
Discovery Institute with
Bruce Chapman. The organization started as a moderate group that aimed to privatize and modernize Seattle's transit systems. It later became the leading thinktank of the
intelligent design movement
The intelligent design movement is a neo-creationist religious campaign for broad social, academic and political change to promote and support the pseudoscientific Article available froUniversiteit Gent/ref> idea of intelligent design (ID), which ...
, with Gilder writing many articles for intelligent design and against the
theory of evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variatio ...
.
Publications
Books
* ''The Party That Lost Its Head'' Alfred A. Knopf; 1st edition (1966). With
Bruce Chapman.
* ''Sexual Suicide'' (1973)
* ''Naked Nomads: Unmarried Men in America'' (1974)
* ''Visible Man: A True Story of Post-Racist America'' (1978)
* ''
Wealth and Poverty'' (1981)
* ''Men and Marriage'' (1986)
* ''The Spirit of Enterprise'' (1986)
* ''Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution In Economics And Technology'' (1989)
* ''Life After Television'' (1990)
* ''Recapturing the Spirit of Enterprise'' (1992)
* ''The Meaning of the Microcosm'' (1997)
* ''Telecosm: The World After Bandwidth Abundance'' (2000)
* ''The Silicon Eye: How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras, and Cell Phones Obsolete'' (2005)
* ''The Silicon Eye: Microchip Swashbucklers and the Future of High-Tech Innovation'' (2006)
* ''The Israel Test'' (2009)
* ''Wealth and Poverty: A New Edition for the 21st Century'' (2012)
* ''Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World'' (2013)
* ''The Scandal of Money'' (2016)
* ''Life after Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy'' (2018)
* ''Gaming AI: Why AI Can't Think but Can Transform Jobs'' (2020)
Contributions by Gilder
*
Notes
External links
George Gilder's Gilder Technology ReportGilder Publishing, LLC*
*
Interviews
''Booknotes'' interview with Gilder on ''Microcosm: The Quantum Revolution in Economics and Technology'', September 24, 1989.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilder, George
1939 births
Living people
American political writers
American economics writers
American speechwriters
American technology writers
Discovery Institute fellows and advisors
Futurologists
Harvard University alumni
Military personnel from New York City
Writers from New York City
Phillips Exeter Academy alumni
The American Spectator people
United States Marines
Wired (magazine) people
20th-century American non-fiction writers
21st-century American non-fiction writers
New York (state) Republicans
Massachusetts Republicans
Male critics of feminism
People from Tyringham, Massachusetts
20th-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
21st-century American male writers