History of the foundation for economic education
The Foundation for Economic Education
is committed to nothing more nor less than
THE DEFENSE OF OUR CIVILIZATION AGAINST INTELLECTUAL ERROR.
F.A. Hayek, Nobel laureate in Economics
March 7, 1946
Leonard E. Read, Henry Hazlitt, and associates establish the Foundation for Economic Education in Irvington, New York as the original free market organization in the US, helping lay the intellectual groundwork for the postwar revival of free market economics.
1946
Henry Hazlitt’s landmark Economics in One Lesson is published.
Leonard E. Read’s printing house “Pamphleteers, Inc.” publishes Ayn Rand’s novella Anthem for the first time in the US.
FEE publishes Milton Friedman and George Stigler’s “Roofs or Ceilings?,” a classic critique of rent control.
1947
FEE’s early work inspires the formation of the Mont Pelerin Society.
1949
Ludwig von Mises joins FEE and dictates his landmark masterpiece Human Action. FEE enables its publication by the Yale University Press.
1950
Pro-New Deal members of the US Congress subpoena FEE to defend its free-market principles and programs, being accused of “flooding the country with propaganda aimed at undermining the Marshall Plan, rent control, aid to education, and Social Security.”
1952
Antony Fisher visits FEE, inspiring him with entrepreneurial ideas. He later uses his fortune to found the Institute for Economic Affairs in London.
1956
Week-long economic seminars begin at the Irvington mansion, the original student seminars on a free society.
FEE takes over publishing The Freeman magazine, one of the earliest free-market publications detailing the ideas of liberty.
1958
Leonard E. Read publishes his classic and foundational essay “I, Pencil.”
1962
FEE republishes Frédéric Bastiat’s monumental book The Law, translated into English by Dean Russell.
1974
F. A. Hayek wins the Nobel Prize in economics. FEE becomes instrumental in the surge of free-market—particularly Austrian economics—economics programs at college campuses across the country.
1981
The Freeman magazine becomes a favorite read of President Ronald Reagan.
1983
Leonard E. Read dies at the age of 84, having authored 30+ books and innumerable essays, founded America’s first free-market think tank, and advanced the “freedom philosophy” worldwide.
1991
The Soviet Union officially collapses after nearly 70 years of communist rule.
1996
Margaret Thatcher praises FEE for 50 years of defending and advancing free enterprise and limited government through challenging times.
2014
FEE completes its move from its ancestral headquarters in Irvington-on-Hudson, New York to its new home in Atlanta, Georgia.
2017
“FEEcon” debuts—a flagship summer conference which ran for three years.
2020
FEE creates the Learning Center, an online curriculum resource designed to strengthen economic literacy in the classroom.
2021
The Henry Hazlitt Fellowship is created to develop up-and-coming liberty-minded professionals.
2022
FEE surpasses 1 million followers across its social media platforms.
2024
FEE’s Education Entrepreneurship Lab is launched, encouraging the growth of innovative, market-based, entrepreneur-driven education models.
2025
The Freeman magazine reboots on Substack.
FEE relaunches its classic residential student seminars.
FEE launches its first student hackathons, bringing young builders to explore the intersection of economics and technology.
2026
FEE hosts the first Economics Olympiad of the Americas, drawing over 1,400 participants and 100 finalists.
FEE celebrates 80 years of promoting the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society.