Joseph Salerno

Joseph T. Salerno (born 1950) is an American Austrian School economist who is Professor Emeritus of Economics in the Finance and Graduate Economics departments at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University, Academic Vice President of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and holds the John V. Denson II Endowed Professorship in the economics department at Auburn University. He earned his B.A. at Boston College and his M.A. and Ph.D. at Rutgers University.

Early life Salerno's parents immigrated to the United States from Italy. As a child, he observed his "New Deal Democrat" father's disdain for a visiting relative from Italy who had declared himself a member of the Italian Communist Party. Salerno said that following the incident, he became a supporter of Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential candidacy and a "full-fledged Goldwaterite." Thereafter, Salerno decided that he wanted to study economics. As an undergraduate at Boston College, he read an article written by Murray Rothbard and adopted what he describes as "the pure libertarian position... anarcho-capitalism." This, he stated, led to his interest in the Austrian School. Salerno's theories have been explicated by Israel Kirzner in a survey of Austrian thought on entrepreneurship.