Liberty Fund, Inc. is an American private educational foundation headquartered in Carmel, founded by

Pierre F. Goodrich Pierre F. Goodrich (1894–1973) was an American businessman and conservative philanthropist.Morgan N. KnullGoodrich, Pierre, ''First Principles'', 09/23/11Evan Sparks '' Philanthropy (magazine), Philanthropy'', Summer 2010Robert T. Grimm (ed.), '' ...

. Through publishing, conferences, and educational resources, the operating mandate of the Liberty Fund was set forth in an unpublished memo written by Goodrich "to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals".Morgan N. Knull
Goodrich, Pierre
, '' First Principles'', 09/23/11Robert T. Grimm (ed.), ''Notable American Philanthropists: Biographies of Giving and Volunteering'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, pp. 125–128

History

Liberty Fund was founded by Pierre F. Goodrich in 1960. In 1997 it received an $80 million donation from Goodrich's wife, Enid, increasing its assets to over $300 million. In November 2015, it was announced that the Liberty Fund was building a $22 million headquarters in Carmel, Indiana. Liberty Fund has been cited by historian Donald T. Critchlow as one of the endowed

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

foundations which laid the way for the election of U.S. President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

in 1980.

Projects

The foundation has published several books covering history, politics, philosophy, law, education, and economics. These include: * ''Liberty Fund's Natural Law and Enlightenment Series'' * ''

Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (; 29 July 180516 April 1859), colloquially known as Tocqueville (), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his wo ...

Democracy in America (; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840) is a classic French text by Alexis de Tocqueville. Its title literally translates to ''On Democracy in America'', but official English translations are usually simply entitl ...

(Historical-Critical Edition)'' * ''The Works and Correspondence of

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptized 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the thinking of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as "The Father of Economics"——� ...

(Glasgow Edition)'' *

David Ricardo David Ricardo (18 April 1772 – 11 September 1823) was a British political economist. He was one of the most influential of the classical economists along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith and James Mill. Ricardo was also a politician, and a ...

, ''

On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation '' the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation'' (19 April 1817) is a book by David Ricardo on economics. The book concludes that land rent grows as population increases. It also presents the theory of comparative advantage, the theory tha ...

'', 2010. * ''The Works and Correspondence of

'' (Edited by

Piero Sraffa Piero Sraffa (5 August 1898 – 3 September 1983) was an influential Italian economist who served as lecturer of economics at the University of Cambridge. His book ''Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities'' is taken as founding the n ...

and

Maurice Dobb Maurice Herbert Dobb (24 July 1900 – 17 August 1976) was an English economist at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He is remembered as one of the pre-eminent Marxist economists of the 20th century. Dobb was bo ...

, 2005)

Organizations

* The Library of Economics and Liberty (EconLib) – publishes the ''Concise Encyclopedia of Economics'' (CEE). Articles are written by economists from different schools of thought, and include four Nobel laureates in economics as authors in the 2nd edition (2008). It also includes short biographies of noted economists and a comprehensive index. The original version of the ''CEE'' was first published in 1993 as the ''Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics'' with economist

David R. Henderson David Richard Henderson (born November 21, 1950) is a Canadian-born American economist and author who moved to the United States in 1972 and became a U.S. citizen in 1986, serving on President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers from 19 ...

as the editor. Notable contributors to the first edition included Nobel Prize laureates Gary Becker,

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was t ...

Thomas Schelling Thomas Crombie Schelling (April 14, 1921 – December 13, 2016) was an American economist and professor of foreign policy, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy at University of Maryland, College ...

George Stigler George Joseph Stigler (; January 17, 1911 – December 1, 1991) was an American economist. He was the 1982 laureate in Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and is considered a key leader of the Chicago school of economics. Early life and e ...

, and

James Tobin James Tobin (March 5, 1918 – March 11, 2002) was an American economist who served on the Council of Economic Advisers and consulted with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He ...

Websites

Besides its main website, the Liberty Fund also sponsors the following websites: * ''The Online Library of Liberty'' * ''Library of Economics and Liberty'' * ''Online Library of Law & Liberty''

Criticism

In his book ''

The Assault on Reason ''The Assault on Reason'' is a 2007 book by Al Gore. In the book, the former U.S. Vice President heavily criticizes the George W. Bush administration for its actions in furthering the "assault on reason". He argues that there is a trend in U.S. p ...

'', former U.S. Vice President and presidential candidate

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...

wrote that between 2002 and 2004, 97% of the attendees at Liberty Fund training seminars for judges were Republican administration appointees. Gore suggests that such conferences and seminars are one of the reasons that judges who regularly attend such conferences "are generally responsible for writing the most radical pro-corporate, antienvironmental, and activist decisions". Referring to what he calls the "Big Three"—the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment,

George Mason University George Mason University (George Mason, Mason, or GMU) is a public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia with an independent City of Fairfax, Virginia postal address in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. The university was origin ...

's Law & Economics Center, and the Liberty Fund—Gore adds, "These groups are not providing unbiased judicial education. They are giving multithousand-dollar vacations to federal judges to promote their radical right-wing agenda at the expense of the public interest."

References

External links

*
EDIRC listing
(provided by RePEc) {{Authority control Book publishing companies based in Indiana Conservative organizations in the United States Libertarian organizations based in the United States Non-profit organizations based in Indiana Organizations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Indiana