No Free Lunch: Economics for a Fallen World: Third Edition, Revised

Chapter Five: Supply & Demand: Markets at Work 121 GREAT ECONOMISTS IN HISTORY WALTER WILLIAMS 1936-Present Walter Williams is perhaps best known by his self-description, the “people’s economist.” Dr. Williams is one of the most widely syndicated economics columnists in the country, with his economics column carried by Creator’s Syndicate in 150 newspapers plus a number of websites. While his many scholarly articles and books have influenced the economic profession, his genius (and the reason for including him as a great economist) is in his ability to take the technical content of economic analysis and make it real for ordinary citizens. Thus he is perhaps the greatest living economic educator, as his common sense analysis is read by millions in his syndicated column. Further, as the occasional guest host of the Rush Limbaugh program, he is the modern version of Frederic Bastiat—addressing millions while exposing various economic fallacies (such as the benefit of the minimum wage). Much of Williams’ technical economics has focused on the disparate impact of government policies on minorities. His most famous early work, The State Against Blacks , made the case that government policies which are intended to benefit poor minorities have resulted in significant unintended consequences—harming the very people they are supposed to help. Further, his analysis of South Africa’s apartheid system found racism as the root cause of support for minimum wage increases for black Afrikaners. Racist whites wanted to legislate away poorer black workers’ ability to undercut the higher white wage level. While Williams would not necessarily attribute racism as the motive for support for minimum wage laws in the US, one is left to conclude that the effects of minimum wage legislation are consistent with what racists would approve—poor minorities are disproportionately hurt by this misguided public policy. Williams’ constant admonition is for people to examine the effects of a policy, and not to focus on its intentions. Williams was born poor in the projects of Philadelphia, drafted into the army (where he fought latent racism), and subsequently studied economics at UCLA, completing his Ph.D. in 1972. But rather than giving his biography, we should let Dr. Williams tell his own story in the video below: Up From the Projects Walter Williams: Autobiography Photograph of Walter Williams 1