Cultivating the Economic Imagination with Atlas Shrugged

This article describes the use of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in an undergraduate comparative systems course. It argues that the novel is the ideal vehicle for cultivating the "economic imagination", i.e. the ability to see the systematic outcomes that emerge under different political economic rules of the game. I argue that the novel is particularly well-suited to animate discussions of essential comparative systems topics, including Marxism, phenomena associated with the soviet-type economy, and fascism. Finally, drawing upon student writing, I argue that the tensions between Rand's epistemology and Austrian economics are productive in conveying Austrian insights regarding the extended order. 

Find article at the Academy of Economics and Finance.