David Gordon

David Gordon is Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He was educated at UCLA, where he earned his PhD in history. He is the author of Resurrecting Economics, An Introduction to Economic Reasoning, An Austro-Libertarian View (three volumes), and Resurrecting Marx. He is also editor of Secession, State, and Liberty and coeditor of H.B. Acton’s Morals of Markets and Other Essays.

Dr. Gordon is the editor of the Mises Review and the Journal of Libertarian Studies, and a contributor to such journals as Analysis, the International Philosophic Quarterly, the Philosophical Quarterly, the Journal of Libertarian Studies, and the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.

Articles

Going Off the Rawls

10/03/2025 Friday Philosophy David Gordon

In this week's Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon examines John Tomasi's thesis of Free Market Fairness that the collectivism espoused by John Rawls is compatible with classical liberalism. Not surprisingly, Dr. Gordon has another viewpoint.

Defending the Benner Pass

09/26/2025 Friday Philosophy David Gordon

Dr. David Gordon, in this week’s Friday Philosophy, takes on the Fourteenth Amendment, looking at David Benner’s critical study of this post-Civil War legal move by the Radical Republicans.

Unlocking the Mind of a Liberal

09/19/2025 Friday Philosophy David Gordon

Dr. Gordon dissects Kenneth R. Minogue’s The Liberal Mind. While Minogue has some interesting arguments, his view of rights conflicts with the views of Murray Rothbard.

Publications

Deneen’s Common Good Statism

09/05/2023 David Gordon

It’s likely that many readers of The Austrian support the free market and also support “traditional” social values, but in Patrick Deneen’s opinion, this is an unstable amalgam. Deneen, a political theorist who teaches at Notre Dame, thinks that the

Review: Slouching Towards Utopia

07/13/2023 David Gordon

[ Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the Twentieth Century by J. Bradford DeLong, Basic Books, 2022 viii + 605 pp.] J. Bradford DeLong, who teaches economics at UC Berkeley and was a protégé of Larry Summer’s dislikes Austrian economics

Lost Continetti

07/22/2022 David Gordon

The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism By Matthew Continetti Basic Books, 2022 503 pp. Why should readers of The Austrian be interested in this book? At first glance, it appears that we shouldn’t be. Though the history of American

Media

We Should Not Apologize for Businesses Being Profitable

08/08/2025 David Gordon

In this week's Friday Philosophy, Dr. David Gordon reviews Profit Without Apology: The Need to Stand Up For Business by Onkar Ghate and Dan Watkins. While praising the effort, he also shares some concerns.

Faculty Panel: Theory and Method

07/25/2024 Paul F. Cwik Lucas M. Engelhardt David Gordon Jeffrey M. Herbener Shawn Ritenour Joseph T. Salerno

This is the Austrian answer to today’s economic controversies. Featuring Paul Cwik, Lucas Engelhardt, David Gordon, Jeffrey Herbener, Shawn Ritenour, and Joe Salerno.

Jefferson Davis von Hayek?

08/01/2025 David Gordon

While Hayek did not write directly about the American Civil War, some of his writings provide insights on the conflict.