Unleashing Capitalism in West Virginia

This research made possible by support from the West Virginia University College of Business & Economics Kendrick Fund for Free Market Research.

**April 25, 2008 News: Unleashing Capitalism named by the Atlas Economic Research Foundation as winner of the 2008 Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award, which honors think tank publications that have made the greatest contributions to the public understanding of the free society**

Copies can be ordered at cost ($16.40 with quantity discounts for 26+ copies) through Lulu.com.

The book is also available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com (and local WV bookstores including Taylor Books in Charleston and WVU Boookstore in Morgantown)

The picture in the middle left is the WV/KY state line showing Marathon Oil (formerly Ashland Oil) and the picture on the middle right is the WV/MD state line showing NewPage Corporation (formerly Westvāco, the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company). Photos courtesy of NASA's World Wind.

This volume of original research contains specific policy reform proposals for promoting prosperity in West Virginia from scholars across the nation. The authors present the case for why state policy should focus more heavily on promoting long-run economic growth, and discuss policies that can be used to accomplish it.

The authors review the scientific evidence on which policies best promote growth and conclude that a policy climate consistent with capitalism, or ‘economic freedom,’ is the best way to accomplish growth and increases in living standards. These policies work because they result in increased capital formation, higher labor productivity, reduced levels of wasteful rent-seeking and lobbying activity, and investment being better channeled to the most productive uses.

The authors also address the reasons why West Virginia has been so historically reluctant to follow the rest of the nation, and the world, in adopting a more free-market policy climate. Our state’s somewhat unusual cultural opposition to capitalism, which is rooted in folklore from our unique economic past, has resulted in a policy climate that halts business formation at our state border. Sadly, this general cultural opposition is rooted in stories that are, to a great extent, simply untrue. The authors attempt to dispel these myths of capitalism through scientific evidence and a careful examination of historical data.

This volume concludes with a set of specific growth-oriented policy reforms that address the broad spectrum from tax policy to legal reform to the security of private property rights. We hope that readers of this volume will come away with a better understanding of capitalism’s true potential to generate the long-run economic progress necessary to lift West Virginia out of poverty, as well as ideas for policy reforms that could accomplish it in our lifetimes.

“Congratulations to Dr. Russell Sobel and his team of authors for producing an economic development tour de force, which is at once diagnostic, prognostic, and prescriptive in its core message—that the most widely shared prosperity is directly correlated to economic freedom. Montani semper liberi.”
—Scott Rotruck
Director of Corporate Development, Chesapeake Energy

“Not beholden to unions, industry, government or other special interests, The Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia brings the bright light of impartial market-oriented economic analysis to bear on the way well-meaning but badly advised policies have so impeded economic growth in West Virginia.”
—John Blundell
Director General, Institute of Economic Affairs, London, England

“Unleashing Capitalism is the most significant contribution to the West Virginia policy debate in decades. This impressive group of scholars has undertaken the largest and most comprehensive academic study ever done of our state’s policies. For anyone interested in the future prosperity of West Virginia, this book is an invaluable guide to how it can be accomplished.”
—Brent D. Robinson
Regional President, West Virginia-North, Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T)

“A thorough and accessible explanation of free-market economics and how West Virginia's well-meaning but misguided policies have actually hindered growth and prosperity. But economic stagnation does not have to be our destiny. For all those who love West Virginia, the Public Policy Foundation offers a pragmatic, non-partisan vision for reforms that would ensure our economy can thrive for future generations.”
—Nora T. Myers
Executive Director, Entrepreneurship Center, University of Charleston

“Over the past several decades many of the world’s countries have adopted free-market reforms increasing the ‘economic freedom’ of their citizens and have grown rapidly as a result. This book shows how to bring economic freedom to West Virginia—the U.S. state with the least reliance on free markets—to promote economic growth and prosperity. The value of this book lies in the specific policy reforms that can make it happen, all backed up by economic theory and empirical evidence.”
—Robert A. Lawson, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics and George H. Moor Chair at Capital University, and author of the annual Economic Freedom of the World index

“The Public Policy Foundation of West Virginia is addressing the most urgent problem facing West Virginia today—our state's lack of economic opportunity and freedom. Few of our obvious problems would not be bettered or resolved completely by progress in those areas. Our political system has defeated the basic human impulse to invest and grow, and as a result, our citizens have suffered greatly. That is why what the foundation is doing can rightly be considered, first and foremost, a humanitarian effort.”
—Chris Stirewalt
Political Editor, West Virginia Media

“This book should be read by every politician, journalist, and businessman in West Virginia. The essays included in it do a fine job of explaining the measures that need to be taken in order to promote capitalism, business, and entrepreneurship in West Virginia. These actions include tax reform, advancing the security of property rights through limitations on the use of eminent domain, the reduction of regulations on business and labor, and much more.”
—Edward W. Younkins, Ph.D.
Professor of Accountancy and Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Capitalism and Morality, Wheeling Jesuit University, and author of Capitalism and Commerce