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The Myth of the Robber Barons with Burt Folsom

The Myth of the Robber Barons with Burt Folsom on HackerTube: recommended by 2 Hacker News commenters across 2 separate months, 2014–2020.

Foundation for Economic Education

lecture · intro · evergreen

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Hillsdale historian Burt Folsom lectures at a 2011 seminar on the 'robber barons' of the Gilded Age. He argues that figures like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller were market entrepreneurs rather than monopolists.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN people offer it as a free-market counterpoint to the standard robber baron narrative.

people recommended it
2
separate months
2
strong recommendations
0
discussed on HN
2014–2020
“Burton Folsom on the myth of robber barons and the great american entrepreneurs of the 19th century.”
— rollinDyno, Mar 2020, in “Ask HN: Share your favourite talks on YouTube”

What HN commenters said

3 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.

rollinDynoMar 2020Recommends

Recently I have really enjoyed: * Joseph Stiglitz on the introduction of informational mechanisms in Economics [1] * Burton Folsom on the myth of robber barons and the great american entrepreneurs of the 19th century. [1] [link] [2] ▶ this video

in “Ask HN: Share your favourite talks on YouTube” · View on HN

timtasJul 2014Recommends

Sigh. Ideologues drinking and re-drinking their own bathwater. The thesis of this article is nearly opposite of the truth. Capitalism -- the kind we have evolved (call it socio-crony-capitalism) -- has badly wounded free markets. Here's at least a bit of an antidote: ▶ this video

in “Free markets killed capitalism” · View on HN

civilianMay 2017Cites it

You might get something out of this article: [link] If " Capitalism in America means as close to monopolization and price gouging as possible. " is your definition of capitalism, then you're off. (And I think that may be why you're being disagreed/downvoted on.) If you think that monopolization and price gouging is an emergent property of capitalism in America-- well, then, I wanna see some citations. My (radical, libertarian) view that a free market would only leads to monopolies when they're _market monopolies_-- meaning they've already providing the best service, and will continue to do so. The really damaging monopolies only ever come from government-granted powers. ▶ this video

in “Why Chinatown Produce Is Cheap (2016)” · View on HN

Topics & tags

World historyMicroeconomics & behavioral economicsUniversity lectures & coursesrobber baronsrockefellervanderbiltfree marketeconomic history