Speaker Bio

Burt Folsom is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska.  He studied at Centre College before receiving his BA at Indiana University.  He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D from the University of Pittsburgh.

He has taught at Murray State University, Northwood University, and currently holds the Charles Kline Chair in History and Management at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan.

Dr. Folsom also worked for several years at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Center for the American Idea.

He has published six books, including Myth of the Robber Barons, now in its fifth edition, in which he explains the role of market entrepreneurs and political entrepreneurs.  His latest book is New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America (Simon & Schuster, 2008).

He is currently a guest scholar at the Heritage Foundation. Dr. Folsom also serves as Senior Historian at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) and writes a quarterly column for FEE’s publication The Freeman. 

His articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Business History Review, Investor’s Business Daily, the Washington TIMES, and countless other publications.  He has made numerous television appearances on The Glenn Beck Show, FOX & Friends, and C-Span.  On talk radio, he is a frequent guest of Rusty Humphries, Michael Medved, and many others.

He and his wife Anita write for their blog at BurtFolsom.com.