The recent victory in New York City’s mayoral primary by self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani has led to significant concern regarding the need to save capitalism from a rising preference for socialism in the U.S.
As The Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Hennessey wrote on June 30, we need more champions of capitalism — “new Milton Friedmans and Thomas Sowells.” Friedman was most famously associated with the University of Chicago, and Sowell with Cornell and UCLA. So where are the great thought leaders of capitalism and free markets today? Why are universities so prone to teach that capitalism is evil, that free markets favor the rich, and that socialism is the answer?
Too many socialist fairy, tales juxtaposed with capitalist horror stories, indicate that it is high time to level the playing field and introduce new educational approaches.
In “The Triumph of Economic Freedom: A Few Lessons from History,” former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) and economist Donald Boudreaux spend considerable time debunking myths about capitalism, from deregulation causing the financial crises to poverty being a failure of capitalism in America. More importantly, they state, “He who writes history determines the future.” Are these myths being written as history at today’s universities?
Much of the blame for capitalism’s unpopularity has been placed on a university system that many feel leans too far left, and on a younger generation of college students and 20-somethings who never knew socialism, who aren’t being educated about the past catastrophes of centralized markets and means of production, and instead are being taught the evils of capitalistic economies. Is it really the students’ fault? After all, it’s the universities that build curricula that fail to provide a balanced viewpoint.
Young people today approach life differently. They are marrying later, if at all, having fewer kids, if any, and many can’t afford to own a home. We can no longer count on new 30-somethings finding their own roads to Damascus, organically converting into productive capitalists as they begin to raise families, own homes, and recognize the benefits of hard work, risk-taking and initiative.
For those of us who believe socialism is incompatible with human nature, and that capitalism — even a re-imagined brand of capitalism — is the answer, it’s time to challenge this amorphous socialist drift with factual and precise examples about how capitalism works and leads to economic freedom.
One would think higher education business schools would be the vanguard of teaching the values of capitalism as a solution to the modern needs of society. Whereas many university business faculty try to remain above the partisan fray, being “champions of capitalism” doesn’t seem to be high on business schools’ agenda.
Courses that address capitalism, socialism or both have become distressingly rare. For example, a search within the Open Syllabus Project, a nonprofit organization that maintains a database of more than 27 million syllabi across thousands of universities, shows very few courses provided by business schools focusing on capitalism. Why?
First, economic history is generally taught by faculty who are housed not in the business schools but instead within the universities’ humanities divisions, with their attendant perspectives on history. Second, business schools and their associated academies that drive research in finance, accounting and marketing have not prioritized the type of research and teaching that focuses on capitalist-socialist comparisons.
When I asked a prominent business faculty member if she was concerned about her students’ exposure to anti-capitalist rhetoric elsewhere on her campus, her response was a shrug. Being taught socialist ideas isn’t necessarily terminal, it seems, but the question we face today is whether it is curable.
The good news is that U.S. business schools have a tremendous opportunity to change this trend. Business schools typically are distinct entities on campus, afforded generous autonomy over their curricula. In the past decade, the number of students entering universities who desire to study business has continued to grow, with students and families looking for more value in their four-year degrees (as measured by employment prospects).
At my own business school where I teach, applications have skyrocketed, and freshman class enrollment has doubled since 2017. Several years ago, my university had the wisdom to support our Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom, which helps teach the principles of capitalism and free markets to students university-wide.
But this example is rarely imitated on other campuses. Future business and policy leaders need a better understanding of the system that makes their success and America’s success possible, and there is no place in the modern American university better suited to teaching the benefits of capitalism than the business school.
American business schools must seize the opportunity to place greater emphasis on economic freedom and the future of capitalism, including on the perils of governmental intervention or a socialist ideal. Teaching the benefits and challenges of capitalism (and the history of socialism worldwide) is not an anti-woke agenda. It is a return to education regarding the power of economic liberty, and the importance of property rights and the rule of law in improving people’s lives.
Capitalism and economic freedom need protection from all sides. Future university graduates need to understand that by engaging in private business, they are part of a system that helps form a safer, healthier, more prosperous world. The business of America is business, and a significant role of our business schools is to defend free enterprise.
Matthew B. Myers is the David B. Miller Endowed Professor of Business at Southern Methodist University’s Dallas Cox School of Business. He is a senior fellow at Cox’s Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom.
