Peter Joseph Boettke (; born January 3, 1960) is an American
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...
of the
Austrian School
The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian schoo ...
. He is currently a professor of
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...
and
philosophy at
George Mason University; the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, vice president for research, and director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and gov ...
at GMU.
Early life and education
Boettke was born and raised in
Rahway
Rahway () is a city in southern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway Valley region, in the New York metropolitan area. The city is southwest of Manhattan ...
,
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
, to Fred and Elinor Boettke. In high school and college, he played for the school basketball and tennis teams.
He attended
Thiel College
Thiel College (, ) is a private college in Greenville, Pennsylvania. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is one of the smallest colleges or universities in the region with about 100 full-time and part time faculty ...
in
Greenville,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and later
Grove City College
Grove City College (GCC) is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts college in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1876 as a normal school, the college emphasizes a humanities core curriculum and offers 60 majors and 6 pre-profession ...
in nearby
Grove City, Pennsylvania
Grove City is a borough in southeastern Mercer County, Pennsylvania, United States, located approximately north of Pittsburgh and south of Erie. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,894. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan ...
. At Grove City, he became interested in economics when he took a course taught by
Hans Sennholz
Hans F. Sennholz (; ; 3 February 1922 – 23 June 2007) was a German-born American Austrian School economist and prolific author who studied under Ludwig von Mises. A Luftwaffe pilot during World War II, he was shot down over North Africa on 31 Au ...
,
and there he developed his religious convictions. After completing a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
(1983) in economics at Grove City, Boettke attended
George Mason University where he earned an
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
(1987) and a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
(1989) in economics. His thesis was ''The political economy of Soviet socialism, 1918–1928'' under the supervision of
Don Lavoie.
Career
After receiving his doctoral degree, Boettke taught at several institutions, including
Oakland University,
Manhattan College and
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
. In 1998, he returned to George Mason University as a faculty member. In 2004, he was named a Hayek Fellow at the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
. He has also been a Faculty Fellow at the Charles University/Georgetown University American Institute for Political and Economic Studies in Prague and a visiting scholar at the
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at
Stanford University. He has also been made an affiliated member of the Philosophy Department at
George Mason University and, in 2012, he was awarded a doctorate ''honoris causa'' in social sciences from
Universidad Francisco Marroquín
Francisco Marroquín University (Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical ...
.
In addition to his academic positions, he is vice president for research at
Mercatus Center
The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. Located at George Mason University and directed by the American economist Tyler Cowen, the Mercatus Center works with policy experts, lobbyists, and gov ...
and director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Until 2007, Boettke held the position of director of graduate studies for the Ph.D. program in economics at George Mason. He is the editor of George Mason University's ''Review of Austrian Economics'' and as vice president of the
Mont Pelerin Society
The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is an international organization composed of economists, philosophers, historians, intellectuals and business leaders.Michael Novak, 'The Moral Imperative of a Free Economy', in '' The 4% Solution: Unleashing the E ...
for the 2018–2020 term.
He was the society's president from 2016 to 2018.
Other pursuits
Boettke worked as a tennis instructor before pursuing his graduate degree in economics. After graduate school, he began coaching youth basketball and eventually coached at the high school and elite AAU level, qualifying for the AAU 16U National Championships in 2007. Several of his players reached college-level competition. In 2009, he was inducted as a coach into the local basketball Hall of Fame in Northern Virginia.
Analytical anarchism
Analytical anarchism is the name given by Boettke to the positive
political economy
Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour ...
of
anarchism, or anarchism from the economic point of view, in the
libertarian tradition of
Murray Rothbard
Murray Newton Rothbard (; March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American economist of the Austrian School, economic historian, political theorist, and activist. Rothbard was a central figure in the 20th-century American libertarian ...
's ''
For a New Liberty
''For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto'' (1973; second edition 1978; third edition 1985) is a book by American economist and historian Murray Rothbard, in which the author promotes anarcho-capitalism. The work has been credited as an infl ...
'' (1973) and
David Friedman's ''
The Machinery of Freedom
''The Machinery of Freedom'' is a nonfiction book by David D. Friedman that advocates an anarcho-capitalist society from a consequentialist perspective.
The book was published in 1973, with a second edition in 1989 and a third edition in 2014.
...
'' (1973). Boettke claims that analytical anarchism has developed out of this tradition and is currently being pursued by economists such as
Peter Leeson
Peter T. Leeson (born July 29, 1979) is an American economist and the Duncan Black Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University. The website Big Think listed him in 2012 among "Eight of the World's Top Young Economists". He is a Fello ...
,
Edward Stringham
Edward Peter Stringham (born January 18, 1975) is an Austrian School American economist, former President of the American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (until May 2021), and the Davis Professor of Economic Inn ...
and
Christopher Coyne.
These professors are related to Mercatus Center and to the faculty of economics at George Mason University.
Publications
Books
* ''Living Economics: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow'' (Independent Institute and Universidad Francisco Marroquin 2012) .
* ''Context Matters: Institutions and Entrepreneurship'' (co-authored with
Christopher Coyne (professor)) (Now Publishers, 2009)
* ''The Battle of Ideas: Economics and the Struggle for a Better World''
* ''Is an Independent Non-Profit Sector Prone to Failure?'' (co-authored with David Prychitko)
* ''The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism: The Formative Years, 1918–1928'' (Kluwer, 1990) .
* ''Why Perestroika Failed: The Economics and Politics of Socialism Transformation'' (Routledge, 1993) .
* ''Calculation and Coordination: Essays on Socialism and Transitional Political Economy'' (Routledge, 2001) .
* ''The Economic Way of Thinking'' with
Paul Heyne and
David Prychitko
David L. Prychitko (born June 22, 1962) is an American economist of the Austrian School. Prychitko is a critic of Marxism, but defends the idea of workers' self-managed firms in a freed market system. Prychitko is a tenured professor at Northe ...
(Pearson, 2014) .
*
Books as editor
* ''Market Process: Essays in Contemporary Austrian Economics'' with
David Prychitko
David L. Prychitko (born June 22, 1962) is an American economist of the Austrian School. Prychitko is a critic of Marxism, but defends the idea of workers' self-managed firms in a freed market system. Prychitko is a tenured professor at Northe ...
. Edward Elgar, 1994.
* ''The Collapse of Development Planning''. New York University Press, 1994.
* ''The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics''. Elgar, 1994
* ''The Market Process'', 2 volumes, with
David Prychitko
David L. Prychitko (born June 22, 1962) is an American economist of the Austrian School. Prychitko is a critic of Marxism, but defends the idea of workers' self-managed firms in a freed market system. Prychitko is a tenured professor at Northe ...
. Elgar, 1998
* ''The Legacy of F. A. Hayek: Politics, Philosophy, Economics'', 3 volumes. Edward Elgar, 1999
* ''Socialism and the Market: The Socialist Calculation Debate Revisited'', 9 volumes. Routledge, 2000.
* ''The Legacy of Ludwig von Mises: Theory and History'', ed. with
Peter Leeson
Peter T. Leeson (born July 29, 1979) is an American economist and the Duncan Black Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University. The website Big Think listed him in 2012 among "Eight of the World's Top Young Economists". He is a Fello ...
. 2 vols. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 2006.
* ''The Economic Point of View'', the first volume of
Israel Kirzner
Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist closely identified with the Austrian School.
Early life and education
The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born i ...
's Collected Works, edited with
Frederic Sautet and published by Liberty Fund, December 2009.
* ''Handbook On Contemporary Austrian Economics'', Edward Elgar, 2010.
* ''Market Theory and the Price System'', the second volume of
Israel Kirzner
Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist closely identified with the Austrian School.
Early life and education
The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born i ...
's Collected Works, edited with
Frederic Sautet and published by Liberty Fund, May 2011.
* ''Essays on Capital'', the third volume of
Israel Kirzner
Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist closely identified with the Austrian School.
Early life and education
The son of a well-known rabbi and Talmudist, Kirzner was born i ...
's Collected Works, edited with
Frederic Sautet and published by Liberty Fund, 2012.
* ''The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics'', with Christopher Coyne. October 2015.
* ''The Economic Role of the State'' (ed. with
Peter Leeson
Peter T. Leeson (born July 29, 1979) is an American economist and the Duncan Black Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University. The website Big Think listed him in 2012 among "Eight of the World's Top Young Economists". He is a Fello ...
). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015.
Personal life
Boettke resides in
Fairfax,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, with his wife and two sons.
References
External links
Boettke's Coordination Problem blog (with Christopher Coyne, Steve Horwitz, Peter Leeson, David Prychitko, and Frederic Sautet)Boettke's biographyat the Mercatus Center
Boettke's biographyat the
Institute for Humane Studies
The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is a non-profit organization that promotes the teaching and research of classical liberalism in higher education in the United States. IHS offers funding opportunities, programs, and events for faculty and g ...
*
Liberty & PowerGroup blog
*
"A Market Nobel" ''The Wall Street Journal'' op-ed, October 16, 2007
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boettke, Peter
1960 births
Living people
American libertarians
Austrian School economists
George Mason University alumni
George Mason University faculty
Grove City College alumni
Manhattan College faculty
New York University faculty
Oakland University faculty
People from Rahway, New Jersey
Stanford University staff
Thiel College alumni
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Mercatus Center
Economists from New Jersey
21st-century American economists
Member of the Mont Pelerin Society