Lumifer comments on Open thread, Dec. 15 - Dec. 21, 2014 - Less Wrong

2 Post author: Gondolinian 15 December 2014 12:01AM

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Comment author: Lumifer 16 December 2014 04:48:21PM 5 points [-]

fringe writers and intellectuals like ... Ayn Rand

This passage from Wikipedia makes me doubt your description of Ayn Rand as a "fringe writer":

In 1991, a survey conducted for the Library of Congress and the Book-of-the-Month Club asked club members what the most influential book in the respondent's life was. Rand's Atlas Shrugged was the second most popular choice, after the Bible. Rand's books continue to be widely sold and read, with over 29 million copies sold as of 2013 (with about 10% of that total purchased for free distribution to schools by the Ayn Rand Institute).

Comment author: gwern 16 December 2014 07:46:49PM 2 points [-]

This tallies with my own impression that Austrianism seems to be doing very well for itself and is hardly fading out.

Comment author: knb 19 December 2014 05:27:05AM *  2 points [-]

Doing well for itself among "fringe people" or among people who matter (i.e. economists, other academics, legislators, central bankers)? My impression has been that it has found a devoted following among "internet people" who lean conservative and libertarian, but isn't gaining influence in the government-academia complex.

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