Mark Andrew Skousen (born October 19, 1947) is an American economist and writer. He currently teaches at Chapman University, where he has been the Doti-Spogli chair in free enterprise at the Argyros School of Business and Economics since 2022.

Early life, education and family

Skousen was born on October 19, 1947, in San Diego, California, and grew up in Portland, Oregon. Conservative political commentator and survival strategist Joel Skousen and linguist Royal Skousen are his older brothers. He is the nephew of W. Cleon Skousen, the political conservative and activist. Mark Skousen earned his B.A. and Master's degree in economics from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University in 1977. Skousen is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has five children with his wife Jo Ann.

Career

Skousen was an economic analyst for the CIA from 1972 to 1975. He later worked as a consultant for IBM and Hutchinson Technology, and other companies. He was a columnist for Forbes magazine from 1997 to 2001, and has contributed articles to The Wall Street Journal as well as to various libertarian periodicals. He has been a speaker at investment conferences and has lectured for think tanks. From 2008 to 2010 he was a weekly contributor on CNBC's Kudlow & Company and has also appeared on C-SPAN Book TV and Fox News. Skousen has been the editor of the Forecasts & Strategies financial newsletter since 1980. He also is the editor of four trading services (Five Star Trader, Low-Priced Stock Trader, Fast Money Alert, and TNT Trader.) and publishes the Investor CAFÉ weekly electronic newsletter.

Academia

Skousen has lectured on economics and finance at Columbia Business School, Barnard College, Mercy College, Rollins College, and Chapman University. In April 2005, distance education provider Grantham University renamed its online School of Business "The Mark Skousen School of Business." He currently teaches at Chapman University, where he has been the Doti-Spogli chair in free enterprise at The Argyros School of Business and Economics since 2022.

Foundation for Economic Education

Skousen served as president of the libertarian economic think tank The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) from 2001 to 2002. Skousen's brief tenure as president of FEE ended on a controversial note when he resigned in late 2002 at the request of the organization's board of trustees. During his tenure at FEE, Skousen launched a non-partisan, libertarian conference, then titled "FEEFest," which premiered in Las Vegas in 2002. After Skousen left the presidency at FEE, the conference continued as "FreedomFest," first under the purview of Young America's Foundation, and later, under Skousen's own direction and ownership.

Economics

Skousen is a proponent of Gross Output (GO), an economic concept used to measure total economic activity in the production of new goods and services in an accounting period. Skousen highlighted the concept in his work, The Structure of Production in 1990.

Written works

Academic books Academic journal articles Articles in edited volumes