what is a robber baron 
 robber baron is term used to describe america s most successful industrialists this derogative term was primarily used during the era of the late 19th century often known as the gilded age the term robber baron is also sometimes used to describe any successful businessperson whose practices are considered unethical or unscrupulous this behavior can include employee or environmental abuse stock market manipulation or deliberately restricting output to charge higher prices understanding robber baronsthe first known uses of the phrase robber baron described feudal lords in medieval europe who robbed travelers often merchant ships along the rhine river as they passed nearby the term appeared in american newspapers in 1859 its modern use stems from matthew josephson s the robber barons 1robber barons were widely despised and considered rapacious monopolists during their lifetimes however later biographies and historical reviews about the gilded age s american robber barons cast a more complicated and favorable light robber barons and monopoliesa chief complaint against the 19th century capitalists was that they were monopolists fear over the robber barons and their monopoly practices increased public support for the sherman antitrust act of 1890 economic theory says a monopolist earns premium profits by restricting output and raising prices this only occurs after the monopolist prices out or legally restricts any competitor firms in the industry however there is no historical evidence that natural monopolies formed before the sherman antitrust act many so called robber barons james j hill andrew carnegie cornelius vanderbilt and john d rockefeller became wealthy entrepreneurs through product innovation and business efficiency of the goods and services they provided supply grew and prices fell rapidly greatly boosting americans standards of living this is the opposite of monopolistic behavior andrew carnegie gave over 350 million to charity during his lifetime including over 56 million to build 2 509 public libraries around the world 2criticism of robber baronsamong common criticisms of the early robber barons included poor working conditions for employees selfishness and greed some robber barons including robert fulton edward k collins and leland stanford earned their wealth through political entrepreneurship many wealthy railroad tycoons during the 1800s received privileged access and financing from the government via extensive use of lobbyists they received monopolistic special licenses per mile subsidies huge land grants and low interest loans special considerationsworking conditions in 19th century america were challenging to say the least while robber barons took advantage of their workers they sometimes offered better working conditions than the norm of the day rockefeller and ford for example paid higher than average wages including bonuses for innovation or exceptional production managers often received long vacations at full pay some tycoons rank among the most noted philanthropists of all time rockefeller donated around 10 of every paycheck he ever earned 3 he gave almost 550 million to charity and championed biomedical research public sanitation medical training and educational opportunities for disadvantaged minorities 4railroad tycoon james j hill publicized and provided free education about crop diversification along with free seed grain cattle and wood to local communities he would transport immigrants at reduced rates if they promised to farm near his railroads who were the original robber barons the original robber barons were feudal lords who robbed travelers and ships passing through their territory during the 1800s the term was applied to successful capitalists like andrew carnegie cornelius vanderbilt and john rockefeller who used monopolistic business practices to corner entire industries and extract great wealth from workers and consumers who are today s robber barons although the term robber baron is somewhat antiquated it is still sometimes used to compare modern entrepreneurs to the monopolistic practices of 19th century industrialists today the term is most often used for tech moguls heading companies like apple google meta and amazon not only for the enormous wealth they ve accumulated but also for their allegedly monopolistic business practices and the accusations of exploiting their workers and consumers 