Manufacturing won’t save rural America—but one policy just might, says one of America’s most provocative economists

Bryan Caplan looks smilingly at the camera (Credit: Courtesy of Bryan Caplan)

Bryan Caplan doesn’t mince words: “Protectionists are just fools,” he said.

But the first protectionist whom the economist, who runs a widely read blog, ever knew was his own father. At 87, Caplan’s dad still runs a used car parts business and remembers the 1950s as America’s golden age.