Roger Adolf Freeman (born Roger Adolf Freimann; September 2, 1904 – December 25, 1991) was an Austrian-American economist. He served as an advisor to Dwight D. Eisenhower, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a special assistant in the Nixon administration, and an advisor to then-California Governor Ronald Reagan. Freeman specialized in public finance within the neoclassical liberal tradition. He was a critic of the welfare state, an advocate for welfare reform, and a defender of fiscal conservatism. His criticism of desegregation and his advocacy for reducing federal funding for education received attention for its impact on public policy and student loan debt in the United States.

Biography

Early life Roger Adolf Freimann was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, on September 2, 1904. His father, Samuel Freimann, was a bankerSeiter, Stephan (1999). "Freeman, Roger Adolf". In Hagemann, Harald, Krohn, Claus-Dieter (eds.). Biographisches Handbuch der deutschsprachigen wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Emigration nach 1933. 1. K. G. Saur Verlag. pp. 162–164. . . who died in 1921. Vienna was suffering from post-WWI inflation, leaving Freimann and his mother in poverty. They rented rooms out in their house and Freimann worked odd jobs while his mother went back to work. Things began to improve in 1924.King, Peter H. (July 18, 1978). "The Liberal Success Story of a Conservative Man". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved June 8, 2025. The young Freimann studied and received his degree from Vienna University of Economics and Business (1927), and spent more than a decade working for Delka, an Austrian shoe retailer. After Adolf Hitler annexed Austria in March 1938, Freimann emigrated to Great Britain (1939) and then to the United States (1940).

Arriving in New York at the end of the Great Depression, Freeman was hard pressed to find a job with unemployment at 15 percent. A visit to a public library turned things around. He found an article in a trade journal which gave him an idea about a shoe merchandising problem. He soon wrote his own article about the problem and got it published. Freeman then sent the published article attached to his resume to 100 different shoe firms across the country and received several job offers. He later recalled that was the last time he ever looked for a job. From then on, people would just offer him jobs. He was hired as manager of the W. L. Douglas Shoe Company, later becoming the CFO of Shoe Corp. of America. In 1949, Washington state requested his services to assist them with their budget crisis,"Roger A. Freeman; Economist". Associated Press. Los Angeles Times. December 30, 1991. where he served as an assistant to Governor Arthur B. Langlie.Freeman, Roger A. (1964). "Economic Priorities: Needs v. Expediency". In Laird, Melvin R. (ed.). The Conservative Papers. Anchor Books. p. 106. .

Eisenhower administration

Freeman was brought to Washington, D.C. in 1953 to participate in Dwight D. Eisenhower's Commission on Intergovernmental Relations in a staff position role.The Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. June 1955; Washington, D.C. Appendix B. Professional Staff. University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library. UNT Libraries Government Documents Department. In 1955, he became an assistant to the White House. The U.S. Treasury made Freeman financial advisor to Bolivia in 1956. He then served as vice president for the Institute for Social Science Research from 1957 to 1962. In 1958, Freeman worked with James M. Buchanan on the Committee on the Financing of Public Education for the National Tax Association, where they both opposed the funding of public schools and the federal taxes needed to finance it. Freeman and others complained that the National Tax Association was influenced by liberal bias because the group supported higher taxes to fund education.MacLean, Nancy (2018) . Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America. Penguin Books. pp. 68, 259. . . MacLean, Nancy. (September 1, 2021). "How Milton Friedman Exploited White Supremacy to Privatize Education". Working Paper No. 161. Institute for New Economic Thinking. p. 17. Retrieved Junee 8, 2025.

Hoover Institution, Nixon administration In 1961, Freeman was research director at the Institute for Studies in Federalism at what was then known as Claremont Men's College.Freeman, Roger A. (August 15, 1961). "The American Tax System". Vital Speeches of the Day. City News Publishing Co. 27 (21): 648-654. He was made a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University (1962-1975), and served as chairman of the revenue sharing task force for the Republican National Committee in 1967. He was also special assistant to the president in the Nixon administration (1969-1970). Journalist John Chamberlain wrote that Freeman "quit the Nixon White House in a fit of acute frustration" over concerns about Nixon's penchant for funding government programs.Chamberlain, John (December 28, 1974). "What have we bought?" The Hour. Retrieved June 8, 2025. Prior to his departure, journalist Holmes Alexander promoted Freeman as a candidate for United States Commissioner of Education under Nixon. Alexander speculates that Freeman left the White House due to Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who was then Counselor to the President. Moynihan's influence, writes Alexander, may have led to Freeman's removal from a school policy task force, and ultimately Freeman's resignation.Alexander, Holmes (July 27, 1970). "White House Aide Quit Out of Frustration". Reading Eagle. p. 4. Retrieved June 8, 2025.

Reagan gubernatorial aide In the 1970 California gubernatorial election, Freeman advised incumbent Governor Ronald Reagan during his campaign for re-election. At a press conference for Reagan on October 29, 1970, Freeman spoke on the issue of cutting funding for education:Moskowitz, Ron (October 30, 1970). "Professor Sees Peril in Education". San Francisco Chronicle. p. 13. Retrieved June 7, 2025.

Freeman disputed statistics that showed the benefits of a college degree, denied that it was the great equalizer, and believed that college should be reserved for a select few.Dorsey, Jasper (February 6, 1985). "College isn't for all high school graduates". Rockmart Journal. p. 4A. Retrieved June 9, 2025. As early as 1961, Freeman was openly promoting the idea of raising tuition fees so that state and local treasuries would no longer have to cover the costs of education. By 1968, he was criticizing desegregation efforts in The Wall Street Journal, saying that there was no evidence that desegregation leads to better educational outcomes, arguing instead that student achievement comes down to "genetic factors and environmental influences".Freeman, Roger A. (Jul 25, 1968). "School Desegregation". The Robesonian. p. 10. Retrieved June 10, 2025.

He believed that the countercultural movements of the 1960s, which led to campus protests and racial riots, were caused by an increase in welfare benefits. Freeman blamed what he perceived as a left-wing intelligentsia working within the U.S. government who he believed were aligned with those who received welfare benefits, leading to larger and larger government budgets.

From 1972 to 1973, Freeman served on Governor Reagan's tax reduction task force. Freeman was made professor of economics at Hillsdale College in 1977. He died from stomach cancer in 1991 in Stanford, California.

Analysis Economist Stephan Seiter places Freeman's research into the tradition of New Political Economy (NPE) theory, following the work of James M. Buchanan. Freeman's ideas aligned with the policies of Ronald Reagan, whom Freeman admired and to who he dedicated his books. Seiter notes that some of the systemic changes promoted by Freeman came to pass in the 1980s, but their efficacy remains in doubt. In terms of their outcomes, Seiter points to the creation of low paid service jobs and the rise of income inequality in the United States. Seiter describes Freeman's work as an American phenomenon, writing "from a European perspective, many of [Freeman's] conclusions are open to criticism."

Economist Gordon Lafer found that Freeman's position on reducing federal funding for education originated with the fears of the elite in the 1960s and 1970s who believed that educating the working class in hard times could be dangerous. Lafer argued that in periods of sustained stagnation, the elite wanted to avoid having "a lot of well-educated poor people".Lafer, Gordon (2017). The One Percent Solution: How Corporations Are Remaking America One State at a Time. ILR Press. pp. 152-153. . . They viewed cuts to public education as a strategy that prevented unrest, but also increased inequality. Cultural historian H. Bruce Franklin called Freeman's push to restrict access to California's public colleges a "conservative counterattack" on education that began under Nixon and escalated under Reagan. Other scholars have labeled the shift a "racial education tax" that disproportionately harmed African Americans and the poor.Sojoyner, Damien M. (2016). First Strike: Educational Enclosures in Black Los Angeles. University of Minnesota Press. . . Sojoyner, Damien M. (2022). Joy and Pain: A Story of Black Life and Liberation in Five Albums. University of California Press. . .

Sociologist Britain Hopkins studied higher education policy and analyzed Freeman's contributions as part of her work on the origins of the student loan industry in the United States from 1953 to 1973. She found that Freeman was one of the key players in the development of the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, which is today known as the Federal Direct Student Loan Program. Hopkins writes that Freeman worked on both sides of the industry, for the United Student Aid Funds (USAF) and the American Bankers Association (ABA), as well as for the federal government and Sallie Mae.Hopkins, Britain (2021). "'Accepting the competitive challenge': The ideological and legislative origins of the student loan industry in the U.S., 1958-1973 (DPhil). University of Oxford. . Retrieved June 10, 2025. In her research, Hopkins found that Freeman's work for USAF and the ABA helped restrict people's ability to have their student loans forgiven by declaring bankruptcy.Hopkins, Britain (March 2024). "The Origins of the Student Loan Industry in the United States: Richard Cornuelle, United Student Aid Funds, and the Creation of the Guaranteed Student Loan Program". The Journal of American History. 110 (4): 687. Journalist Jon Schwarz points to Freeman's work as one of the ways of understanding why U.S. conservatives have attacked academia since the 1960s and how over time Americans came to owe trillions in student debt.Schwarz, Jon (August 25, 2022). "The origin of student debt: Reagan adviser warned free college would create a dangerous "educated proletarian". The Intercept. Retrieved June 14, 2025.

Group Research Inc. classified Freeman as a "right-wing activist" in their archival research on right-wing politics in the United States.

Selected works School Needs in the Decade Ahead. Washington, DC, 1958 Socialism and private enterprise in Equatorial Asia: the case of Malaysia and Indonesia. Stanford, Calif. Hoover Inst. on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford Univ., 1968 Welfare reform and the family assistance plan. Washington: Gov.Print.Off., 1972 Tax loopholes: the legend and the reality. Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1973 The Growth of the American Government. A Morphology of the Welfare State. Hoover Institution Press, 1975 The Wayward Welfare State. Hoover Institution Press, 1981 Soziale Sicherheit im defekten Wohlfahrtsstaat, Übersetzung H. Hoffmann, in: Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, 1982, S. 97–109

Notes

References

External links

Roger A. Freeman Papers, Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Online Archive of California.