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]

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

the Hoover Institution wrote, Thorntons book contains
much valuable information on prohibition and cites many
sources. But the economically literate book on prohibition that makes a case for legalization has yet to be
written.[8]

Libertarian organizations have published Thorntons articles 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 Jeerson Fish's book How to Legalize Drugs.[12]

Life and academic career

2 Political activities
Thornton ran for U.S. Congress in 1984.[13] Thornton
has been the vice chairman and chairman of the Libertarian Party of Alabama. In 1988, he became the rst
Libertarian Party oce-holder in Alabama when he was
elected Constable, a local law-enforcement position.[5][14]
He was the Libertarian Partys Candidate for the U.S.
Senate in 1996. He was also endorsed by the Reform
Party, and came in third of four candidates.[14]
Mark Thornton speaking about business cycles during the 2008
Mises University conference.

3 Books

Thornton grew up in Geneva, New York in an Irish

Catholic family of entrepreneurs who were Democrat in
politics.[5]

The Economics of Prohibition. Salt Lake City, Utah:

University of Utah Press, 1991. (ISBN 0-87480379-9)

Thornton received his B.S. from St. Bonaventure University (1982), and his Ph.D. from Auburn University
(1989). Thornton taught economics at Auburn University. He formerly taught at Columbus State University
and is now a Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute,[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

Taris, Blockades, and Ination: 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 Institute, 2007. (ISBN 978-1-933550-07-7)

Prohibition studies

Thorntons rst book, The Economics of Prohibition, was

praised by Thorntons supervisor at the Mises Institute,
its vice-president Murray Rothbard, who is quoted on
the book cover of the 2007 edition as writing: Thorntons book... arrives to ll an enormous gap, and it does
so splendidly...This is an excellent work making an important contribution to scholarship as well as to the pub-

An Essay on Economic Theory: An English translation of Richard Cantillons Essai sur la Nature du
Commerce en Gnral (Thornton, editor; Chantal
Saucier, translator) Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises
Institute, 2010. (ISBN 978-1-61016-001-8)
1

See also
List of Austrian School economists

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: Edice Complex. Barrons. The U.S. has a new tallest
buildingOne World Trade Center in New Yorkand
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 conversation 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?" Independent 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. 638660).
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.

External links
Mark Thornton, prole in Mises.org
"How Prohibition Made Pot More Potent: Q&A
with Auburn Universitys Mark Thornton. July
2013, Reason magazine video, ve minutes

EXTERNAL LINKS

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