Mark Skousen

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Mark Skousen is an American economist, investment analyst, newsletter editor, college professor and author of more than 20 non-fiction books.

Contents 1 Early life, education and family 2 Career 2.1 Academic career 2.2 Newsletter editor 2.3 Noted books and writings 3 Economic and political views 4 Economic and political activities 4.1 FreedomFest 4.2 Free Market Hall of Fame 4.3 Presidency at FEE 4.4 Notable acquaintances 4.5 Public speaking and media appearances 5 Abbreviated List of Written Works 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life, education and family

He was born in 1947 in San Diego, CA and grew up in Portland, OR, has lived in eight countries, and traveled and lectured throughout the United States and in 70 countries. He and his wife, Jo Ann, and their five children have lived in Washington, D.C.; Nassau, Bahamas; London, England; Orlando, Florida; and New York. Joel Skousen and Royal Skousen are his older brothers, and Cleon Skousen, the conservative author, is his uncle.

He earned his BA and MA in economics from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in economics and monetary history from George Washington University in 1977.^[1]

[edit] Career

Skousen was an economic analyst for the CIA from 1972 to 1975. He later worked as a consultant for IBM and Hutchinson Technology, among other Fortune 500 companies. He was a columnist for Forbes magazine from 1997 to 2001, and has contributed articles to such financial publications as The Wall Street Journal and The Journal of Economic Perspectives as well as to the libertarian periodicals Reason, Liberty and The Freeman. ^[2]

[edit] Academic career

Skousen has taught economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Barnard College at Columbia University and Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. In April 2005, Grantham University honored Dr. Skousen by renaming its School of Business "The Mark Skousen School of Business" and in 2006, he was named the Benjamin Franklin Chair of Management at the university.

[edit] Newsletter editor

He is editor-in-chief of Forecasts & Strategies^[3], an investment newsletter he founded in 1980. In 2005, Skousen became the chairman of Investment U, one of the largest investment e-letters in the country, with more than 300,000 subscribers. He also heads three financial trading services: Skousen Hedge Fund Trader^[4], High Income Alert^[5], and Turnaround Trader^[6].

Skousen is also the editor of a weekly email newsletter, The Worldly Philosophers^[7], which highlights the philosophy, thoughts and writings of a worldly wise figure in history, present or past, who can teach ways to make money, achieve financial and personal freedom, and enjoy life to the fullest. Highlighted figures include J. Paul Getty, Benjamin Franklin, J. P. Morgan, John Maynard Keynes, Jesse Livermore, Andrew Carnegie, King Solomon, and many other worldly philosophers, based on Skousen's large personal library of financial, business and economics books.

[edit] Noted books and writings

The financial bestsellers he has written include: The Complete Guide to Financial Privacy (1983); High Finance on a Low Budget (1981), co-authored with his wife Jo Ann; Economics on Trial (1991); Scrooge Investing (1995); The Making of Modern Economics (2001); Vienna and Chicago, Friends or Foes? (2005); and The Big Three in Economics (2006). He also edited and compiled The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (2005) (Skousen, incidentally, is a descendant of Franklin ^[8]).

He has also written a popular free-market textbook, Economic Logic, published by Capital Press, in 2000 (new second edition, 2007).

Several of his books, as well as his popular philosophical essay Persuasion vs. Force ^[9], have been translated into several languages. The Making of Modern Economics has been translated into Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, and Mongolian.

[edit] Economic and political views

He is a proponent of the Austrian school of economic theory ^[10][11], which maintains that economic principles are intrinsically tied to human actions and motivations, and which supports a free market as well as a minimization of government intervention in economic and personal affairs. Skousen's advocacy of these principles have contributed to his high visibility in the modern libertarian movement. ^[12]He is the founder of FreedomFest, an annual gathering of the freedom movement from around the world, held annually in Las Vegas^[13].

[edit] Economic and political activities

[edit] FreedomFest

FreedomFest is an annual festival of libertarians to celebrate "great books, great ideas, and great thinkers" in a liberal, open-minded society. It is independent, non-partisan, and not affiliated with any organization or think tank. Founded and produced by Skousen since 2002, the festival features authors and experts in philosophy, history, science & technology, geo-politics, economics, and the arts from around the world to talk, strategize, socialize, and celebrate liberty. Although it is an open forum to both sides of the political spectrum, it is largely libertarian in nature. Past speakers have included John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Markets; Professor and supply-side economist Arthur B. Laffer; Muhammad Yunus, co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006; Nathaniel Branden, noted author and libertarian philosopher; Nassim Taleb, bestselling author; and Michael Shermer, columnist for Scientific American.

[edit] Free Market Hall of Fame

At FreedomFest 2007, Mark Skousen announced the creation of the Free Market Hall of Fame[1], where anyone can vote for their favorite free-market economist, journalist, business leader, legislator, and think tank. The first induction ceremony will take place at FreedomFest 2008, scheduled for July 9-12, 2008, in Las Vegas.

[edit] Presidency at FEE

Skousen served as president of the free market think tank Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in New York from 2001 to 2002. During his tenure, Skousen established the first FEE National Convention, the Leonard E. Read Book Award (to Ken Schoolland's book, "Adventures of Jonathan Gullible"), and the James U. Blanchard III Student Scholarships.

Skousen's brief tenure as president of FEE ended on a controversial note when he resigned in late 2001 at the request of the organization's Board of Trustees. This move followed Skousen's decision to invite, as keynote speaker for FEE's annual Liberty Banquet, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani proved to be an extremely unpopular choice among many of the organization's board members as well as several prominent libertarians. ^{[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]}

[edit] Notable acquaintances

His stature in investment, business, and publishing circles has enabled Skousen to converse with several prominent figures in the fields of politics, business and media. Among those he has interviewed and/or discussed fiscal matters with include: George W. Bush, during his successful 2000 Presidential campaign, when he was Governor of Texas; former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Former Vice President Dan Quayle; actor-activist Charlton Heston; economists Peter Drucker, Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, and Louis Rukeyser; Forbes,Inc. CEO Steve Forbes; TV talk show host Larry King; conservative radio commentator Rush Limbaugh; philanthropist David Rockefeller. ^[19] He also had a chance encounter with former President Bill Clinton in October 1996 when Skousen went out on a San Diego beach for a jog, and the President and his Secret Service agents came jogging in front of him. Clinton allowed Skousen to jog alongside him, and the two of them discussed economic policy for approximately half an hour. ^[20]

[edit] Public speaking and media appearances

Skousen has been a popular and sought-after financial speaker at investment conferences around the world, including Money Shows^[21],the New Orleans Investment Conference^[22], Investment U ^[23] and Oxford Club^[24] events. He has also lectured for many think tanks, such as Cato Institute^[25] and Cascade Policy Institute^[26], as well as at colleges and universities, including Harvard University, UCLA, Stanford and the University of Chicago.

Skousen has made several television appearances, including ones on ABC News, CNBC Power Lunch, CNN, Fox News, and C-SPAN Book TV.

[edit] Abbreviated List of Written Works

Academic Books

The Structure of Production (New York University Press, 1990).

Economics on Trial (Irwin McGraw Hill, 1991; 2nd edition, 1993). Translated into Japanese.

Dissent on Keynes, editor (Praeger Publishing, 1992).

Puzzles and Paradoxes in Economics, co-authored with Kenna C. Taylor (Edward Elgar, 1997). Translated into Korean and Chinese.

Economic Logic (Capitol Publishers, 2000). Microeconomics textbook; macro section to be published in 2007 in a combined micro/macro volume. Translated into Chinese by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Press.

The Making of Modern Economics (M. E. Sharpe Publishers, 2001). Now in its third printing; translated into Chinese, Turkish, Mongolian, and Spanish.

The Power of Economic Thinking (Foundation for Economic Education, 2002). Translated into Chinese by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Press.

Vienna and Chicago: Friends or Foes? A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics (Capital Press, 2005).

The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, compiled and edited by Mark Skousen (Regnery Books, 2006).

The Big Three in Economics (M. E. Sharpe, 2007).

Financial Books

The Complete Guide to Financial Privacy (Simon & Schuster, 1982).

High Finance on a Low Budget (Bantam Books, 1981, Dearborn, 1993), co-authored with Jo Ann Skousen.

The Investor's Bible: Mark Skousen's Principles of Investment (Phillips Publishing, 1992).

Secrets of the Great Investors, editor, audio tape series, narrated by Louis Rukeyser (Knowledge Products, 1997).

The New Scrooge Investing (McGraw Hill, 2000).

Investing in One Lesson (Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2007).

Academic Journal Articles

"Saving the Depression: A New Look at World War II," Review of Austrian Economics, 1987, vol. 2, No. 1.

"A Review of the New Palgrave," Review of Austrian Economics, 1988, vol. 3, No. 1. "The Perseverance of Paul Samuelson’s Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives vol. 11, No. 2 (Spring, 1997), 137-152.

"GO Beyond GDP: Introducing a New National Income Statistic," (presented at the “Macro Lunch”, Columbia Business School, paper to be submitted to American Economic Review).

“What Drives the Economy: Consumer Spending or Saving/Investment? Using GDP, Gross Output and Other National Income Statistics to Determine Economic Performance,” Backgrounder, 2004, Initiative for Policy Dialogue,[2]

Articles in Edited Volumes

“The Great Depression,” The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics, ed. Peter J. Boettke. Hants, England: Edward Elgar, 1994.

“Financial Economics,” The Elgar Companion to Austrian Economics, ed. Peter J. Boettke. Hants, England: Edward Elgar, 1994.

"Say's Law, Growth Theory, and Supply Side Economics," Two Hundred Years of Say's Law, ed. Steven Kates. Hants, England: Edward Elgar, 2003.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Forecasts & Strategies
• Mark Skousen's website
• Investment U.
• Advocates for Self-Government profile
• "Persuasion vs. Force" essay
• FreedomFest