Luigi Zingales, the respected economics professor at the University of Chicago who has argued so persuasively that government should be pro-market, not pro-business, now weighs in on the Republican presidential race. It comes as no surprise that Zingales prefers Paul Ryan over Mitt Romney. But Zingales is discouraged at the prospect of Ryan throwing his hat into the Republican race:
Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan says that he’s not running, and I assume he means it, but the GOP clearly needs a candidate more like Ryan than like Mitt Romney, currently the party’s leading candidate and a favorite of the establishment. A candidate in Ryan’s mold, from the Jack Kemp tradition of libertarian conservatives who helped make the GOP great, would be a strong believer in free markets who is not beholden to the bailout-addicted big-business establishment. This kind of candidate, if the GOP could only find him, could win in 2012 and help get the nation’s economy back on track.
Well, I don’t think Ryan has completely slammed the door on running. But if he has slid the lock then maybe the kind of candidate the GOP needs to find is a she.