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Mark Thornton

Mark Thornton   is an   American economist   of the

Austrian School.[1] He has written on the topic of

prohibition of drugs, the economics of the  American

Civil War, and the "Skyscraper Index".[2] He is a Senior

Fellow with the Ludwig von Mises Institute[3] in Alabama

and a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute.[4]

1 Life and academic career

Mark Thornton speaking about  business cycles  during the 2008 

Mises University conference.

Thornton grew up in   Geneva, New York   in an Irish

Catholic family of entrepreneurs who were “Democrat in

politics”.[5]

Thornton received his B.S.   from  St. Bonaventure Uni-

versity   (1982), and his  Ph.D.   from  Auburn University

(1989). Thornton taught  economics at  Auburn Univer-

sity. He formerly taught at Columbus State University

and is now a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises In-

stitute,[3] where he is book review editor for its Quarterly

Journal of Austrian Economics .[6] He has written about

prohibition-related issues.[5]

1.1 Prohibition studies

Thornton’s first book, The Economics of Prohibition, was

praised by Thornton’s supervisor at the Mises Institute,

its vice-president   Murray Rothbard, who is quoted on

the book cover of the 2007 edition as writing: “Thorn-

ton’s book... arrives to fill an enormous gap, and it doesso splendidly...This is an excellent work making an im-

portant contribution to scholarship as well as to the pub-

lic policy debate.”[7] Reviewer   David R. Henderson   of

the Hoover Institution wrote, “Thornton’s book contains

much valuable information on prohibition and cites many

sources. But the economically literate book on prohi-

bition that makes a case for legalization has yet to be

written.”[8]

Libertarian organizations have published Thornton’s ar-

ticles on drug and alcohol prohibition, and he was

once interviewed on the topic of prohibition by Agence

France-Presse.[9][10][11] Thornton contributed a chapter

to Jefferson Fish's book How to Legalize Drugs .[12]

2 Political activities

Thornton ran for   U.S. Congress   in 1984.[13] Thornton

has been the vice chairman and chairman of the Liber-

tarian Party of Alabama. In 1988, he became the first

Libertarian Party office-holder in Alabama when he was

elected Constable, a local law-enforcement position.[5][14]

He was the Libertarian Party’s Candidate for the U.S.

Senate in 1996. He was also endorsed by the ReformParty, and came in third of four candidates.[14]

3 Books

•   The Economics of Prohibition. Salt Lake City, Utah:

University of Utah Press, 1991. (ISBN 0-87480-

379-9)

•   Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics 

of the Civil War   (with   Robert B. Ekelund, Jr).

Delaware: Scholarly Resource Books, 2004. (ISBN

0-8420-2961-3)

•   The Quotable Mises   (editor). Auburn, AL: Ludwig

von Mises Institute, 2005. (ISBN 0-945466-45-5)

•   The Bastiat Collection   (editor).   Volume 1   and

Volume 2. Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Insti-

tute, 2007. (ISBN 978-1-933550-07-7)

•   An Essay on Economic Theory: An English trans-

lation of Richard Cantillon’s Essai sur la Nature du

Commerce en Général   (Thornton, editor; ChantalSaucier, translator) Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises

Institute, 2010. (ISBN 978-1-61016-001-8)

1

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2   6 EXTERNAL LINKS 

4 See also

•  List of Austrian School economists

5 Notes[1]  DiLorenzo, Thomas (2011-02-11) My Associations with

Liars, Bigots, and Murderers,  LewRockwell.com

[2] Blumenthal, Robin Goldwyn; Strauss, Lawrence C.

(November 16, 2013).   “The Skyscraper Index: Edi-

fice Complex”.   Barron’s . The U.S. has a new tallest

building—One World Trade Center in New York—and

that has conjured up some novel reading of economic tea

leaves.

[3]  Mark Thornton fellow page, Ludwig von Mises Institute

website,  accessed December 21, 2013.

[4]   Mark Thornton biography page at Independent Institute

website,  accessed December 21, 2013.

[5] Joseph S. Diedrich,  Libertarian America: A conversa-

tion with Mark Thornton, Washington Times, March 24,

2013.

[6]   Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics website.

[7] Mark Thornton,  The Economics of Prohibition, Ludwig

von Mises Institute, 2007, ISBN 1610164652

[8] Henderson, David. “Review of Economics of Prohibition”

Check |url= value (help) (PDF). Retrieved 20 December

2013.

[9] “US drinks to 75 years since end of Prohibition.” Agence

France-Presse. Hosted by Google. 4 December 2008.

[10] Thornton, Mark. “Prohibition versus Legalization: Do

Economists Reach a Conclusion on Drug Policy?" Inde-

pendent Institute.  The Independent Review. Winter 2007.

[11] Thornton, Mark. “Alcohol Prohibition Was a Failure.”

Policy Analysis no. 157. Cato Institute. 17 July 1991.

[12] Thornton, M. (1998). “Perfect Drug Legalization”. In

J. M. Fish (ed.),  How to Legalize Drugs   (pp. 638–660).

Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.  ISBN 978-0765701510

[13]  Gadsden Times, Nov 4, 1984.

[14]  Mark Thornton faculty page, Ludwig Von Mises Institute

website,  accessed December 21, 2013.

6 External links

•  Mark Thornton, profile in Mises.org

•   "How Prohibition Made Pot More Potent: Q&A

with Auburn University’s Mark Thornton.” July2013, Reason magazine video, five minutes

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7 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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mous: 24

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