good news for young libertarian scholars

Benjamin Powell, assistant professor of economics at Suffolk University, is the subject of the current Faculty Spotlight at the Mises Blog. I enjoyed the whole interview, but I wanted to highlight his advice to young scholars:

Are there any words of wisdom you wish to pass onto the next generation of Austrian scholars?

Ha. I thought I was part of the next generation! Did I get old recently? What I can say for those coming behind me, based on my limited experience so far, is that doing Austrian economics and libertarian research is not an impediment to professional success. As long as you are doing applied research that other economists are concerned with you can make Austrian and libertarian points and have a successful academic career. Personally I’ve found that when I work on topics like applied anarchism I’ve had better luck publishing that in well respected mainstream journals than I have with less radical topics. I think the same is true of most of my peers. Some institutes and scholars give advice to “hide your libertarianism and make something else the focus of your scholarly research.” I don’t think those people could be any more wrong. The time is great for young libertarian and Austrian economists. I hope more will join us in the development and application of the science of liberty.