Richard Vedder
Encyclopedia
Richard Vedder is an American economist
, historian
, author
, columnist
, and currently a professor
at Ohio University
.
in economics at the University of Illinois in 1965. He has since studied U.S. economic history
, particularly as it relates to public policy
. Some of his specific research has involved American immigration
, economic issues in American education
, and the interrelationship between labor
and capital
markets.
Vedder serves as an Adjunct Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
(AEI), a think tank
known for mostly libertarian
and conservative perspectives. He has served as an economist with Congress
' Joint Economic Committee
. In his role with the AEI, he later testified before the Committee
on October 30, 2008. He is also director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C.
Vedder's scholarly writings have appeared in journals such as Explorations in Economic History
, The Journal of Economic History
, and Agricultural History
. He has written over two hundred such scholarly articles. Vedder's popular interest writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal
, USA Today
, Investor's Business Daily
, and the Christian Science Monitor.
He has published the books The American Economy in Historical Perspective, Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America (with Lowell Gallaway), Can Teachers Own Their Own Schools?, Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much, and The Wal-Mart Revolution: How Big-Box Stores Benefit Consumers, Workers, and the Economy (with Wendell Cox).
Vedder is married to Karen Vedder, to whom he dedicated the book The Wal-Mart Revolution.
/public affairs
TV program
PBS NewsHour. He told host
Jeffrey Brown
that since "the cost of college is rising relative to the benefits of college" while "learning outcomes are stagnant or falling in this country", American society must "open up opportunities for people to consider a variety of different options after high school, one of which is college, but there are many others." Vedder also stated that "as many as one out of three college graduates today are in jobs that previously or historically have been filled by people with lesser educations, jobs that do not require higher-level learning skills, critical thinking skills, or writing skills or anything of that nature."
On August 19, 2009, Vedder appeared on the webcast
series ReasonTV. He discussed the same topic.
, Vedder stated:
Vedder wrote in his June 2004 book Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much that American universities have become less productive and less efficient in recent years as well as more likely to shift funds away their core mission of teaching. He also criticized rising tuition costs. He proposed as a broad solution moving state universities toward free market
completion and privatization
. He specifically recommended as well that colleges expand distance learning, cut out non-educational programs, modify tenure
, raise teaching loads, and reduce administrative staffs.
He wrote along with Wendell Cox in their December 2006 book The Wal-Mart Revolution that criticisms of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. are factually unfounded. He argued that Walmart workers are paid fairly given their skill and experience, and he stated that they also receive side benefits such as health insurance
that is fairly similar to competing firms. He wrote that communities with new Walmart stores actually have more total employment and higher incomes develop as a result.
Vedder and fellow economist Stephen Moore wrote in the Wall Street Journal editorial page in March 2011 that every new dollar of new taxes leads to more than one dollar of new spending according to their research. Thus, they found evidence in favor of the "Feed the Beast" theory, which posits that increasing taxes for the purported purpose of balancing the budget only to make the government spend those inflows.
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
, and currently a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
.
Biography
Born in 1940, Vedder earned his B.A. in economics at Northwestern University in 1962 and his Ph.DDoctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in economics at the University of Illinois in 1965. He has since studied U.S. economic history
Economic history of the United States
The economic history of the United States has its roots in European colonization in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Marginal colonial economies grew into 13 small, independent farming economies, which joined together in 1776 to form the United States of America...
, particularly as it relates to public policy
Public policy
Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...
. Some of his specific research has involved American immigration
Immigration to the United States
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of the history of the United States. The economic, social, and political aspects of immigration have caused controversy regarding ethnicity, economic benefits, jobs for non-immigrants,...
, economic issues in American education
Education in the United States
Education in the United States is mainly provided by the public sector, with control and funding coming from three levels: federal, state, and local. Child education is compulsory.Public education is universally available...
, and the interrelationship between labor
Labour economics
Labor economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the market for labor. Labor markets function through the interaction of workers and employers...
and capital
Capital (economics)
In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods used in production of goods or services. The capital goods are not significantly consumed, though they may depreciate in the production process...
markets.
Vedder serves as an Adjunct Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
(AEI), a think tank
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
known for mostly libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and conservative perspectives. He has served as an economist with Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
' Joint Economic Committee
United States Congress Joint Economic Committee
The Joint Economic Committee is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic condition of the United States and for making suggestions...
. In his role with the AEI, he later testified before the Committee
United States Congress Joint Economic Committee
The Joint Economic Committee is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic condition of the United States and for making suggestions...
on October 30, 2008. He is also director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Vedder's scholarly writings have appeared in journals such as Explorations in Economic History
Explorations in Economic History
Explorations in Economic History is an academic journal of quantitative economic history. It follows the quantitative or formal approaches that have been called cliometrics or the new economic history, applied to any place and time...
, The Journal of Economic History
The Journal of Economic History
The Journal of Economic History is an academic journal of economic history which has been published since 1941. Many of its articles are quantitative, often following the formal approaches that have been called cliometrics or the new economic history to make statistical estimates.The journal is...
, and Agricultural History
Agricultural History
Agricultural History is a quarterly peer reviewed academic journal published by the American Agricultural History Society. It was established in 1927 and is edited by Claire Strom .-External links:* at JSTOR...
. He has written over two hundred such scholarly articles. Vedder's popular interest writings have appeared in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Investor's Business Daily
Investor's Business Daily
Investor's Business Daily is a national newspaper in the United States, published Monday through Friday, that covers international business, finance, and the global economy...
, and the Christian Science Monitor.
He has published the books The American Economy in Historical Perspective, Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America (with Lowell Gallaway), Can Teachers Own Their Own Schools?, Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much, and The Wal-Mart Revolution: How Big-Box Stores Benefit Consumers, Workers, and the Economy (with Wendell Cox).
Vedder is married to Karen Vedder, to whom he dedicated the book The Wal-Mart Revolution.
Media
On May 27, 2011, Vedder appeared on the long running newsNews
News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
/public affairs
Public affairs (broadcasting)
Public affairs, a broadcasting industry term, refers to television programs which focuses on matters of politics and public policy. Among commercial broadcasters, such programs are often only to satisfy Federal Communications Commission regulatory expectations and are not scheduled in prime time...
TV program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
PBS NewsHour. He told host
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
Jeffrey Brown
Jeffrey Brown (Journalist)
Jeffrey Brown is an American journalist and a senior correspondent and news anchor for the PBS Newshour since May 2005.- Education and personal life :...
that since "the cost of college is rising relative to the benefits of college" while "learning outcomes are stagnant or falling in this country", American society must "open up opportunities for people to consider a variety of different options after high school, one of which is college, but there are many others." Vedder also stated that "as many as one out of three college graduates today are in jobs that previously or historically have been filled by people with lesser educations, jobs that do not require higher-level learning skills, critical thinking skills, or writing skills or anything of that nature."
On August 19, 2009, Vedder appeared on the webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
series ReasonTV. He discussed the same topic.
Viewpoints
In the aftermath of the late-2000s financial crisisLate-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
, Vedder stated:
Vedder wrote in his June 2004 book Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much that American universities have become less productive and less efficient in recent years as well as more likely to shift funds away their core mission of teaching. He also criticized rising tuition costs. He proposed as a broad solution moving state universities toward free market
Free market
A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts...
completion and privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
. He specifically recommended as well that colleges expand distance learning, cut out non-educational programs, modify tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
, raise teaching loads, and reduce administrative staffs.
He wrote along with Wendell Cox in their December 2006 book The Wal-Mart Revolution that criticisms of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. are factually unfounded. He argued that Walmart workers are paid fairly given their skill and experience, and he stated that they also receive side benefits such as health insurance
Health insurance in the United States
The term health insurance is commonly used in the United States to describe any program that helps pay for medical expenses, whether through privately purchased insurance, social insurance or a non-insurance social welfare program funded by the government...
that is fairly similar to competing firms. He wrote that communities with new Walmart stores actually have more total employment and higher incomes develop as a result.
Vedder and fellow economist Stephen Moore wrote in the Wall Street Journal editorial page in March 2011 that every new dollar of new taxes leads to more than one dollar of new spending according to their research. Thus, they found evidence in favor of the "Feed the Beast" theory, which posits that increasing taxes for the purported purpose of balancing the budget only to make the government spend those inflows.
See also
- List of American Enterprise Institute scholars and fellows
- United States Congress Joint Economic CommitteeUnited States Congress Joint Economic CommitteeThe Joint Economic Committee is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic condition of the United States and for making suggestions...