Thomas Sowell - Laureate or Losing It?

[Sukerkin]

Being that I am an economist by initial education I have of course heard of Thomas Sowell, indeed I have read him as part of my studies.

He isn't one of the 'greats' but he was on the road to gaining a place in the annals of economic theory for his early work, largely by dint of somewhat left-field thinking. Of late he has started to go off the academic rails, becoming more and more contentious and taking flight on the wings of the internet media to write punchy sounding but ultimately calorie-free opinion-pieces for the American Right Wing.

This would not be a problem, other than for him, except that his previous 'serious' writing is giving him an unwarranted currency in certain circles and that earlier serious work is being undermined by his recent controversial outspokenness.

So I thought it might be interesting to see if anyone who is not an economist or a Right Winger with too much passion has consciously heard of Sowell and, if they have, what do they make of him?

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EDIT: Hang on a minute. I dug that quote out of one of Sowell's on-line articles but is Sowell old enough to take the 'credit' for influencing FDR? He'd be a child at that time, surely? Similarly, Keynes died before any significant works of Sowell's were published. Hold the bus, more investigation required ...

 

[billc]

Here is a link to his columns, and he has plenty of books to read as well.

http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/

 

[Big Don]

I've read a number of Sowell's columns on social topics. Honestly, Suke, economics kinda makes my eyes glaze over...

 

[Jenna]

I did not know he was an economist. I had read Black Rednecks and White Liberals and assumed his background had been elsewhere? His intelligence is not in doubt and but who knows how intransigent one's views become as one gets older. We give older people more leeway as their outlook becomes more fixed (and I would say sometimes more fixated). I do not know if it is the case here? and but is sad when the pragmatic approach of an intellectual becomes more plastic and unyielding? At that point they should either get a youtube account and begin their online tirade where they can be avoided or just go water their garden and complain to their petunias