No. 36 in America · Week of November 9, 2026
Economist, director of The Soho Forum
Gene Epstein is an economist and the co-founder and director of The Soho Forum debate series.
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0
Score breakdown
Nine parts, measured fresh each week. This is where Gene Epstein's points came from, and the evidence behind each one.
Debate record
Runs one of the country's leading Oxford-style debate series and debates socialists on its stage himself.
Epstein was economics editor of Barron's from 1993 to 2018, writing its Economic Beat column.
He follows the Austrian school of economics.
On the record
2022
October 17, 2022
Formal debate
Against Binyamin Appelbaum · The Soho Forum, New York
Epstein defended free markets against the New York Times writer's case that free-market ideology explains decades of dismal economic performance.
2020
February 4, 2020
Formal debate
Against Stephen Moore · The Soho Forum, New York
Epstein argued against Trump's China trade measures, opposite the Heritage Foundation economist and author of Trumponomics.
2019
November 5, 2019
Formal debate
Against Richard Wolff · The Soho Forum, New York
Epstein argued against socialism opposite Wolff. The recording had passed 6 million views by 2024.
Take a side: Is capitalism still the best engine for human flourishing?
2018
October 15, 2018
Formal debate
Against Bhaskar Sunkara · The Soho Forum, New York
Epstein argued that capitalism does more to make people free, opposite Jacobin's founding editor.
Take a side: Is capitalism still the best engine for human flourishing?
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