About the Author
James D. Gwartney holds the Gus A. Stavros Eminent Scholar Chair at Florida State University, where he directs the Stavros Center for the Advancement of Free Enterprise and Economic Education. He served as Chief Economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress during 1999-2000. His most recent publication, Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity (St. Martin’s Press, 2005) is a primer on economics and personal finance designed for the interested lay person. His publications have appeared in both professional journals and popular media such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. His Ph.D. in economics is from the University of Washington. His current research focuses on the measurement and determination of factors that influence cross-country differences in income levels and growth rates. In this regard, he is the senior researcher responsible for the preparation of the annual report, Economic Freedom of the World, which provides information on the institutions and policies of 130 countries. This data set, published by a worldwide network of institutes in 70 countries, is widely used by scholars investigating topics ranging from economic growth to peaceful relations among nations. Gwartney was invited by the incoming Putin Administration in March 2000 to make presentations and have discussions with leading Russian economists concerning the future of the Russian economy. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Adam Smith Award of the Association of Private Enterprise Education for his contribution to the advancement of free market ideals. He is the President-elect of the Southern Economic Association.
Richard L. Stroup is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Montana State University, as well as a Senior Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and a Visiting Professor in Economics at North Carolina State University. For the three years before his retirement from Montana State University, he served as head of its Department of Agricultural Economics & Economics. Professor Stroup, who has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Washington, was one of the originators of the “New Resource Economics,” the academic approach popularly known as free market environmentalism. He also served as director of the Office of Policy Analysis in the U.S. Department of the Interior and has been published widely in professional journals and popular publications. He is author or contributing editor of numerous books on the economics of resources and the environment and the author of Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know About Economics and the Environment (Cato Institute). Most recently he co-authored Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity (St. Martin’s Press, 2005) with James Gwartney and Dwight Lee. Stroup has lectured throughout the United States and abroad to professional and general audiences. He held the Hayek Chair in Economics at the University of Graz in Austria, in the fall of 2005. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute.
Russell S. Sobel is Professor of Economics and holder of the James Clark Coffman Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies at West Virginia University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Florida State University in 1994. He has published over 75 books and articles, and has received national recognition for his work on FEMA reform. Sobel was the founding Director of the West Virginia University Entrepreneurship Center, and he serves on the advisory boards of five major professional and academic organizations. He has received numerous awards for both his teaching and research. He regularly teaches courses in both principles of economics and public economics, and gives lectures at economic education outreach programs.
David A. Macpherson is the director of the Pepper Institute on Aging and Public Policy and the Rod and Hope Brim Eminent Scholar of Economics at Florida State University, where he has received two university-wide awards for teaching excellence. Professor Macpherson is the author of many articles in leading labor economics and industrial relations journals, including the Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Human Resources, and Industrial and Labor Relations Review. He is also coauthor of Contemporary Labor Economics, 8th, as well as the annual Union Membership and Earnings Data Book: Compilations from the Current Population Survey. His specialty is applied labor economics. His current research interests include pensions, discrimination, labor unions, and the minimum wage. He received his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University.
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