Editing Jay Gould (section)

==Criticism and appraisal==
Gould was extensively criticized during his lifetime, on the basis that he was a [[Speculation|trader]] rather than a builder of businesses, and of being unscrupulous, although more recent appraisal has suggested that his business ethics were not unusual for the time.<ref>The Life & Legend of Jay Gould, Mary Klein, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. p496</ref>

[[Anarcho-capitalism|Anarcho-capitalist]] economist [[Murray Rothbard]] said that Gould's business practices were unfairly maligned, because he was supposedly one of the only railroad financiers who consistently undermined the railroad cartels' proposed rate fixing by starting new railroad lines, thus driving rates down for consumers.<ref>The Progressive Era, [[Murray N. Rothbard]], [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]], 2017. p. 64-65</ref>