Oakland, CA—Canadian economist Pierre Lemieux has won the 2021 Independent Excellence Prize for his paper, “The Impossibility of Populism” which appears in the Summer 2021 edition of The Independent Review, the quarterly journal published by the Independent Institute. Lemieux received a prize award of $10,000 for his paper, which was judged by the editors of The Independent Review.

Lemieux lives in Maine and is an Economist in the Department of Management Sciences at the Université du Québec en Outaouais (Canada). He has written several books including What’s Wrong with Protectionism? Answering Common Objections to Free Trade (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and Who Needs Jobs? Spreading Poverty of Increasing Welfare (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014). He also writes regularly at Econlog, a Liberty Fund blog.

“It’s an honor to be chosen for the Independent Excellence Prize. The submissions for the prize came from several dedicated scholars and writers. The high quality of work submitted makes it more gratifying,” said Lemieux.

The editors of The Independent Review called for entries on the topic of populism, self-government, and liberty (economic and civil) for the special symposium.

“Populism can have a variety of ideological strains. The ideology of the American Revolution as shown by Bernard Bailyn, anti-slavery abolitionism, and the Tea Party movement in America; the early Yellow Jackets in France; Brexit; and the new Citizens party in Spain—all have important classical-liberal tendencies. Other strains of populism are problematically illiberal therefor against freedom.” said Robert Whaples, Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and Co-Editor and Managing Editor for The Independent Review.

Thoroughly researched, peer-reviewed, and based on scholarship of the highest caliber, The Independent Review is the acclaimed interdisciplinary journal devoted to the study of political economy and the critical analysis of government policy. The journal covers economics, political science, law, history, philosophy, and sociology, as it boldly challenges the politicization and bureaucratization of our world with in-depth examinations of policy issues by some of the world’s leading scholars and experts.

To interview Pierre Lemieux, contact Robert Ade, [email protected], or (510) 635-3690.

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