Jason Riley – Thomas Sowell's Path from Marx to Hayek

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Video Links

0:00 The upcoming Hoover Institution conference honoring Thomas Sowell

5:37 Sowell’s apprentice work at the University of Chicago

12:58 Ground News ad

14:45 Hayek’s influence on Sowell

19:55 Jason: No one is smarter than the market

24:58 The unconstrained vision vs. the constrained vision

33:04 Sowell’s contribution to economic literacy

37:44 Sowell’s tough early life and his path to Marx

]47:55 Jason: Sowell’s willingness to weigh in on race hurt his career

53:58 Sowell’s evisceration of The Bell Curve

Recorded on August 25, 2025

Links and Readings

Jason’s writing for the Wall Street Journal

Jason’s book, Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell

Thoma Sowell’s memoir, A Personal Journey

Sowell’s book, Knowledge and Decisions

Sowell’s book, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Conflict

Sowell’s book, Ethnic America: A History

Sowell’s book, Race and Culture

Sowell’s book, Migration and Cultures: A World View

Friedrich Von Hayek’s essay, “The Use of Knowledge in Society”

Hayek’s review of Knowledge and Decisions

Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein

Sowell’s book, The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy

Sowell’s book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice

Milton Friedman’s TV show, Free to Choose

Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s book, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life

Sowell’s American Spectator review of The Bell Curve, “Ethnicity and IQ”

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