PERC has won the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award for the second year in a row. PERC was honored for publication of The Not So Wild, Wild West, a book by Terry L. Anderson and Peter J. Hill. The award was given Wednesday, April 27, in Miami, Florida, at a meeting of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation. Atlas is known for its efforts to support intellectual entrepreneurs worldwide through the establishment of public policy institutes.
Terry L. Anderson is executive director of PERC, and Peter J. Hill is a PERC senior fellow. Both are former economics professors at Montana State University. Their book "the product of years of research" explores the role of property rights and self-government in the development of the western United States. It reveals that the famed violence of the "Wild West" is an exaggeration. People living on the frontier "whether Indians, cowboys, miners, or settlers" found that it was generally in their self-interest to cooperate peacefully with one another.
The Not So Wild, Wild West, published by Stanford University Press, has been receiving favorable reviews. John Blundell, in a forthcoming review in the British journal Economic Affairs, says: "Read it and you will see the world around you very differently and you will read history through a new set of eye glasses." He calls the book a "treasure trove of wonderful stories" and a book that "challenges conventional wisdom and challenges us all with its rigorous application of freely transferable property rights."
Frank D. Lewis, writing in the online Economic History Services Web site said the book "should have special appeal to undergraduates. It is entirely accessible and often quite delightful."
The Fisher award is given annually by the Fairfax, Virginia- based Atlas Economic Research Foundation in honor of its founder, Sir Antony Fisher. The award comes with a $5,000 honorarium for the recipient institute. This is the second year in a row that PERC has won the award. Last year, Atlas honored PERC for Eco-Nomics: What Everyone Should Know about Economics and the Environment, by Richard L. Stroup, a senior fellow of PERC and a professor of economics at Montana State University.
More information about the book, including ordering details are available here. For additional details about Atlas, visit the foundation’s site and to learn more about the Fisher Awards visit this site.