Lawrence Reed | |
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 Reed in 2019 | |
| Born | (1953-09-29)September 29, 1953 (age 72) Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Academic background | |
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| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Public policy,libertarianism[1] |
| School or tradition | Austrian School |
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| Website | |
Lawrence "Larry"W. Reed (born September 29, 1953), also known asLarry Reed, is president emeritus of theFoundation for Economic Education (FEE), where he has served as the Humphreys Family Senior Fellow since May 2019. Before joining FEE, Reed served as president of theMackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland,Michigan-based free-marketthink tank. To date, he remains Mackinac's president emeritus.[2]
Steve Forbes interviewed Lawrence W. Reed, they discussed his bookWas Jesus a Socialist?, Reed arguing that Jesus's teachings do not align with socialism. such as the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, support voluntary contracts and private property, not socialism. Reed emphasizes that Jesus valued personal choice and charity, rejecting forced redistribution and aligning with free-market principles.[3][4]
Reed launched theTelugu translation ofLeonard E. Read's 1958 essayI, Pencil, the first translation of Leonard's work in the Asian subcontinent.I, Pencil was translated byRaghavendar Askani of the Swatantrata Center,Youth Parliament Program. Reed has commented on the advancement of liberal thought inIndia, highlighting the novel Vihangam byGangaraju Gunnam, a noted Indian film producer and screenwriter. Reed described Vihangam as akin to an Indian version ofAyn Rand'sAtlas Shrugged, emphasizing its alignment with free-market and individualist principles.[5][6]
Reed was born and raised inPennsylvania, United States.
Reed has cited the 1968 event between the Czechs and the Soviets known as the "Prague Spring" as the genesis for his interest in liberty, and has referred to the Czech cause as a "flowering of liberty". As a result of interactions with FEE in his teen years, Reed became exposed to the ideas ofFriedrich Hayek,Ludwig von Mises, and others from theAustrian school of economics.[7][8]
Reed holds a Bachelor of Arts degree ineconomics fromGrove City College (1975) and a Master of Arts degree in history fromSlippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (1978).
From 1977 to 1984, Reed taught economics atMidland, Michigan'sNorthwood University, serving as chairman of the Department of Economics from 1982 to 1984. While at Northwood, Reed designed the university's dual major in economics and business management and founded its annual "Freedom Seminar".
In 1982, he was theRepublican candidate forU. S. Congress inMichigan's 10th district.[9]
Reed's interests in political and economic affairs have taken him as a freelance journalist to 81 countries on six continents since 1985.[10] Over the past twenty-five years, he has reported onhyperinflation in South America,black markets from behind theIron Curtain, reforms and repression in China and Cambodia, and civil war inside Nicaragua and Mozambique. Additionally, he spent time with theContra rebels during the Nicaraguan civil war; and lived for two weeks with Mozambique rebel forces at their bush headquarters in 1991, while the country was engaged at the height of theirguerrilla conflict. Among many foreign experiences, Reed visited Cambodia in 1989 with his late friend,Academy Award winnerHaing S. Ngor.[11]
In 1986, while traveling with the Polishanti-communist underground,[12] Reed was arrested and detained by border police.[13] Reed's articles have appeared inThe Wall Street Journal,Christian Science Monitor,Baltimore Sun,Detroit News,Detroit Free Press andUSA Today, and others.[14]
From 1987 to 2008, Reed served as the president of theMackinac Center for Public Policy. According toTheNew York Times, under his leadership, the Mackinac Center emerged as one of the largest and most influential state-level policy institutes in the United States.[15] The concept of theOverton window was developed during the time that Reed was president of the Mackinac Center. The "Overton window" refers to the range of ideas which are considered culturally and politically fringe to mainstream, and when a subject matter moves along this spectrum it is considered to have changed its status along the "Overton window". According to the Mackinac Center, "The Overton Window was developed in the mid-1990s by the lateJoseph P. Overton, who was senior vice president at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy at the time of his death in 2003."[16][17]
Long active in Michigan policy, Reed was appointed in 1993 by the state's then-GovernorJohn Engler (R) to the Headlee Amendment Blue Ribbon Commission. The commission was established as part of the state's 1978 "Headlee amendment" for the purpose of limiting local and state government spending.[18] It was officially abolished in 2004 by former Michigan GovernorJennifer Granholm.[19]
In 1994, Reed was named to the Secchia Commission on Total Quality Government, a task force charged by Governor Engler to streamline Michigan state government. Engler and many of his administration's officials frequently cited the work of the Mackinac Center as influential in shaping administration policies.[20]
During a 2003 address on the floor of theHouse of Representatives,CongressmanRon Paul paid tribute to Reed, acknowledging him as "one of America's leading advocates for liberty", and remarked that Reed's writings "reflect his unswerving commitment to limited government and the free market as the best way to promote human happiness."[21][22]
In December 2007, theWashington, D.C.–basedHeritage Foundation named Reed as a visiting senior fellow.[13]
On September 1, 2008, Reed became president of theFoundation for Economic Education (FEE). FEE, founded in 1946 byLeonard Read, has been recognized as the first not-for-profit organization of its kind, familiarizing people withfree-market economics.[independent source needed] As president, Reed hoped to reassert FEE's position as a "mothership" for the freedom movement at large.[7] According to Reed, "FEE believes a free society is not only possible, it is imperative because there is no acceptable alternative for a civilized people. Our vision for the future is that through education, men and women will understand the moral, philosophic and economic principles that undergird a free society. They will appreciate the direct connection between those principles and their material and spiritual welfare. They will strive to pass those principles on from one generation to the next."[23][24]
Reed identifies with theAustrian School of economics and has referred to competition as one of the highest and most beneficial forms of human cooperation.[25][26][27]
Reed's 2012 book isA Republic – If We Can Keep It, is a collection of essays by Reed and historianBurton W. Folsom, Jr. that surveys the economic history of the United States and the modern world.[28]
Another of Reed's books isStriking the Root: Essays on Liberty, a bundling of works on the topic of government use of force, previously published in FEE's magazine,The Freeman.[29]
Reed's other books includeLessons from the Past: The Silver Panic of 1893, andPrivate Cures for Public Ills: The Promise of Privatization, both published by the Foundation for Economic Education, andWhen We Are Free, withDale M. Haywood.
In 1981 he wrote the shortGreat Myths of the Great Depression, which criticized various conceptions about the AmericanGreat Depression.[30]
Reed was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Public Administration fromCentral Michigan University in 1994
Reed was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Northwood University in 2008. Reed is also the recipient of theGrove City College Distinguished Alumni Award.[31]
Reed was awarded the highest distinction Poland bestows upon a foreigner. theGrand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland byPoland PresidentAndrzej Duda[32] He received it on November 11th, 2023. The award recognized Reed's decades of support for Polish freedom, including his crucial assistance to the anti-communist underground in the 1980s and his efforts to promote free-market ideas in Poland.[33]
Since my college days in the 1970s, I have identified strongly with the principles and methodology of the Austrian School of Economics.
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