Foundation for Economic Education

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Foundation for Economic Education
FEE.png
Founder(s) Leonard E. Read
Type Educational foundation
IRS 501(c)(3) tax exempt[1]
Tax ID No. 136006960[1]
Founded March 7, 1946 (1946-03-07)
Headquarters 30 South Broadway
Irvington, New York 10533 [2]
Key people President Lawrence W. Reed, Executive Director Carl Oberg
Area served United States
Focus economics, libertarianism
Mission "to study and advance the freedom philosophy"[2]
Method literature, lecture, academic scholarship
Revenue $1,762,290 (2009)[2]
Website fee.org
Part of a series on
Libertarianism

Established in 1946 to study and advance "economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society,"[3] the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) is the oldest[4] free-market organization in the United States. Murray Rothbard recognized FEE for creating a "crucial open center" that he credits with launching the movement.[5]

FEE advocates for open markets and civil liberties through lectures as well as publications. The lectures are either a part of week long seminars held in multiple locations within the United States featuring multiple faculty, or feature one prominent speaker for the Evenings at FEE series.[6] Publishing efforts include a monthly magazine, The Freeman, as well as pamphlets, lectures, and classic libertarian texts.[7]

Originally [8] based in Manhattan, FEE moved[9] the headquarters outside of New York City to an 1800s estate in Irvington. In 2010, FEE opened a branch office in downtown Atlanta.[10]

Contents

History[edit]

Founding[edit]

Founded[11] in 1946 by Leonard Read,[15] Donaldson Brown[16] of General Motors Corporation, professors Leo Wolman of Columbia University and Fred R. Fairchild of Yale University, Henry Hazlitt of the New York Times, Claude Robinson of Opinion Research Corporation, and David Goodrich of B. F. Goodrich, FEE is the oldest[17] free-market organization in the United States. The William Volker Fund contributed financial support to FEE.[18]

People[edit]

The initial officers[19] of FEE included Read as president, Hazlitt as vice-president, and Goodrich as chairman. Read served as president[20] from 1946 until his death in 1983. Perry E. Gresham immediately followed his friend Read as president[20] of the organization in 1983. The presidency of FEE[21] from 1983 to 1984 was held by John Sparks Sr., from 1984 to 1985 by Bob Love, from 1985 to 1988 by a series of acting presidents, then from 1988 to 1992 by Bruce Evans. After retiring from Grove City College where he taught economics, Hans Sennholz[22] served as president of the Foundation from 1992 to 1997. Before serving as Chair of the Department of Economics at George Mason University, Donald J. Boudreaux[23] served as president of the Foundation from 1997 to 2001. Economist, investment analyst, professor and author Mark Skousen[24] served as president from 2001 to 2002. After the controversial decision to invite Rudy Giuliani to be the keynote speaker at FEE's annual Liberty Banquet for a $30,000 honorarium, the Board of Trustees[25] asked for Skousen's resignation. Author and professor Richard Ebeling[26] served as president from 2003 to 2008. Economist, author, and professor Lawrence Reed[10] became the current president in 2008.

Significance[edit]

FEE provided a base[27] for the international post World War II libertarian movement. Murray Rothbard credited FEE with launching the movement[5] by providing a "crucial open center." Friedrich Hayek saw FEE as part of the inspiration for the formation of the Mont Pelerin Society in 1947.[28] Plehwe, Walpen, and Neunhöffer argued that FEE directly supported the Mont Pelerin Society.[29]

Location[edit]

Group tours the FEE library at the Hillside estate

The initial headquarters of FEE filled two rooms at 737 Seventh Avenue on the 30th floor of the Equitable Building in Manhattan.[8]

The current FEE headquarters is located[9] within the 20,000-square-foot (1,900 m2) main building on the historic seven-acre Hillside estate[30] in Irvington, New York. Built[31] in 1889 for medical doctor Carroll Dunham and his wife Margaret Dows, the Colonial Revival[32] mansion was designed for 34 rooms, 16 fireplaces, and with glass designed[32] by Irvington resident[33] Louis Comfort Tiffany. The grounds were designed[34] by Charles Eliot with later alterations[35] by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Continuum Company is currently petitioning[36] the Irvington government to allow conversion[37] of this property into an assisted living and memory care facility.

In 2010, FEE opened a branch office in downtown Atlanta.[10]

Mission[edit]

Today the foundation defines its mission as providing access to the "economic, ethical and legal principles of a free society."[3] That mission is what makes FEE an educational foundation, not an academic or political organization.

Programs[edit]

Seminars[edit]

Faculty panel during a FEE seminar
FEE seminar leisure activity
Israel Kirzner lecture for FEE on July 28, 2006

FEE offers week-long seminars[38] for high school students, undergraduates, and graduate students. The Freedom Academy seminars are designed for high school students and focus on economics, history, politics, social science, philosophy, education, business, and current events.

For undergraduates, FEE offers Freedom University seminars[38] in "History", "Current Events", "Communicating Liberty", and "Austrian Economics". History seminars[38] are designed for university undergraduates interested in the contrast between liberty and power in the history of the United States. Study begins at the American founding, proceeds through the Great Depression noting its lasting effects, and concludes with an analysis of communism in the 20th century. Current Events seminars[38] are designed for university undergraduates interested in current public policy issues. Topics of note include healthcare, immigration, and environmental policy. Communicating Liberty seminars[38] are designed for university undergraduates who have previously attended a FEE seminar and wish to increase the effectiveness of their communication. Lectures and workshops center on topics like blogging, op-eds, social media, public speaking, event planning, and networking. Austrian Economics seminars are[38] designed for university undergraduates interested in an introduction to the thoughts and thinkers of the Austrian school of economics. Topics range from free-markets to business cycles and globalization.

Additionally, "Advanced Austrian Economics" seminars[38] are designed for university undergraduates with in depth knowledge of Austrian economics and graduate students who are interested in exploring the economic approach pioneered by Menger,[39] Mises,[40] Kirzner,[41] and Hayek[42] as well as works by current Austrian scholars Pete Boettke,[43] Christopher Coyne,[44] Roger Garrison,[45] Steven Horwitz,[46] and Pete Leeson.[47]

Evenings at FEE[edit]

FEE hosts speakers, usually at the headquarters, as a part of the Evenings at FEE series of events. These include speakers like author, investment advisor, and one time presidential candidate Harry Browne.[48] Browne presented "The Greatest Mistake in American History: Letting Government Educate our Children" in December 2004.[48] The Institute for Justice's President and General Counsel Chip Mellor's February 2008 presentation "Jurisprudence of Liberty" is another example.[49] Since 1946 FEE has hosted and published lectures most notably by Ludwig von Mises,[50] F.A. Hayek,[51] Henry Hazlitt,[52] Milton Friedman,[53] James Buchanan,[53] Vernon Smith,[54] Walter Williams,[55] George Stigler,[53] F.A. "Baldy" Harper,[56] and William F. Buckley Jr.[57]

July 2008 - Vol. 58 No. 6, Cover The Freeman

Publications[edit]

In 1945 Du Pont executive Jasper Crane along with Alfred Kohlberg started a capital campaign.[58] After contributions from J. Howard Pew, Inland Steel, Quaker Oats, and Sears enough funding was available that in 1950 FEE published the first issue of The Freeman, a magazine that is still published by FEE today.[59] [60] FEE publishes books, articles, and pamphlets both on paper and digitally that the foundation considers classic works on liberty.[61] These include the notable publications I, Pencil: My Family Tree by Read,[62] The Law by Bastiat,[63] The Theory of Money and Credit by Mises,[64] Economics in One Lesson by Hazlitt,[65] Anything That's Peaceful by Read,[66] Planned Chaos by Mises,[67] Conscription by Webster,[68] Industry-Wide Bargaining by Wolman,[69] Something for Nothing? by Schinnerer,[70] Property Rights and Human Rights by Poirot,[71] Up from Poverty: Reflections on the Ills of Public Assistance by Sennholz,[72] The Virtue of Liberty by Machan,[73] and Great Myths of the Great Depression by Reed.[74]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b Internal Revenue Service 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Charity Navigator 2011.
  3. ^ a b Hollenbeck 2013; Horwitz 2013.
  4. ^ Charity Navigator 2011; Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 27; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 156.
  5. ^ a b Gordon 2010, p. 14.
  6. ^ Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 285; Olson 2009; Ashford 2011; Giannotta 2011; Foley 2010.
  7. ^ Phillips-Fein 2008, p. 115; Hamowy, p. 217; Perelman 2007, p. 64; Schneider 2009, p. 47; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 285; Olson 2009; Lichtman 2008, p. 160.
  8. ^ a b Dodsworth 1995, p. 2.
  9. ^ a b Gaskins 2012.
  10. ^ a b c Farrell 2011.
  11. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 27; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 243; Olson 2009; Farrell 2011; Hülsmann 2007; Plehwe 2006, p. 31.
  12. ^ Rothbard 2006, p. 451.
  13. ^ Dochuk 2010, p. 116.
  14. ^ Heller 2009, p. 197.
  15. ^ Read was the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce executive director[12] from 1938[13] to 1945.[14]
  16. ^ Kashyap & Wilcox 2010, p. 384.
  17. ^ Charity Navigator 2011; Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 27; Hamowy 2008, p. 335; Perelman 2007, p. 64; Schneider 2009, p. 47; Mirowski 2009, p. 387.
  18. ^ Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 156; Lichtman 2008, p. 160; George 1997.
  19. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 27; Olson 2009.
  20. ^ a b Sennholz 1993, p. 185.
  21. ^ Reed 2012.
  22. ^ Wilcox 2000, p. 151.
  23. ^ Boudreaux 2011.
  24. ^ Skousen 2010.
  25. ^ Huebert 2002a; Huebert 2002b; Skousen 2002.
  26. ^ Ebeling 2009.
  27. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 86; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 281; Gordon 2010, p. 14; Blundell 1990, p. 9.
  28. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 86; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, pp. 15, 19, 21, 53, 156, 190, 196, 243, 281, 284, 293, 387, 397, 410; Plehwe 2006, p. 31.
  29. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 86; Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 15.
  30. ^ Spikes & Leone 2009, p. 26.
  31. ^ Dunham 1876.
  32. ^ a b Dodsworth 1995, p. 6.
  33. ^ Frelinghuysen & Hutchinson 2006, p. 49.
  34. ^ Eliot 1902, pp. 281–284.
  35. ^ Tavern Club 1901, p. 37.
  36. ^ Seaman 2012.
  37. ^ Hoffman 2011, p. 16.
  38. ^ a b c d e f g Ashford 2011; Giannotta 2011; Foley 2010.
  39. ^ Menger 1934.
  40. ^ Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 243.
  41. ^ Hamowy 2008, p. 272.
  42. ^ Hayek 1934.
  43. ^ Boettke 1994.
  44. ^ Coyne 2007.
  45. ^ Garrison 2000.
  46. ^ Horwitz 2007.
  47. ^ Leeson 2011.
  48. ^ a b Watner 2005, p. 1; Meyer 2004.
  49. ^ Mellor 2008.
  50. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 116; Hamowy 2008, p. 335; Olson 2009.
  51. ^ Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 285; Olson 2009, p. 217.
  52. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 43; Olson 2009.
  53. ^ a b c Mirowski & Plehwe 2009, p. 21.
  54. ^ Smith 2006.
  55. ^ Williams 2006.
  56. ^ Hamowy 2008, p. 492.
  57. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 40.
  58. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. ii; Hamowy 2008, p. 62; Schneider 2009, p. 47; Lichtman 2008, p. 160.
  59. ^ ISSN 0016-0652; OCLC 1570149
  60. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 115; Hamowy 2008, p. 62; Schneider 2009, p. 47; Lichtman 2008, p. 160.
  61. ^ Phillips-Fein 2009, p. 52; Hamowy 2008, p. 62; Olson 2009.
  62. ^ Read 1958.
  63. ^ Bastiat 1950.
  64. ^ Mises 1971.
  65. ^ Hazlitt 1955.
  66. ^ Read 1964.
  67. ^ Mises 1947.
  68. ^ Webster 1953.
  69. ^ Wolman 1948.
  70. ^ Schinnerer 1954.
  71. ^ Poirot 1952.
  72. ^ Sennholz 1997.
  73. ^ Machan 1994.
  74. ^ Reed 1981.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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