Economic Freedom Of The World: 2008 Annual Report
About the Authors
James 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 is a coauthor of Economics: Private and Public Choice (Cengage/South-Western Press), a widely used text on the principles of economics that is now in its twelfth edition. He is also a coauthor of an economics primer, Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know about Wealth and Prosperity (St. Martin’s Press, 2005). His publications have appeared in both professional journals and popular media such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. He served as Chief Economist of the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress during 1999/2000. He 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 current President of the Southern Economic Association. His Ph.D. in economics is from the University of Washington.
Robert A. Lawson holds the Jerome M. Fullinwider Endowed Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom and is director of the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom at the Southern Methodist University (SMU) Cox School of Business. Prior to SMU, he taught at Auburn University, Capital University, and Shawnee State University. Professor Lawson has numerous professional publications in journals such as Public Choice, Cato Journal, Kyklos, Journal of Labor Research, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, and European Journal of Political Economy. He has served as president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Joshua Hall is the Director of the Center for Free Enterprise and an Associate Professor of Economics at West Virginia University. Prior this position, he was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics at Beloit College and an economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress. Dr. Hall has published in numerous policy studies and professional publications, his research having appeared in journals such as the Atlantic Economic Journal, Cato Journal, Journal of Economic Education, and Journal of Labor Research.
CONTRIBUTOR
Seth Norton is Aldeen Professor of Business at Wheaton College. He holds a B.A. in history from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. in finance and industrial relations, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Professor Norton has held teaching positions at Washington University, Illinois State University, and the University of Michigan. He has a broad teaching background, including economics, finance, marketing and strategy. Professor Norton’s research record is also diverse: he has published in comparative economic systems, development economics, industrial organization, finance, marketing, and strategic management. Publications include works in the Cato Journal, Economic Inquiry, Journal of Business, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, Journal of Law & Economics, Marketing Science, and Strategic Management Journal. Professor Norton was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Western Economics Association International. He is currently studying the links between economic institutions and human well-being across countries, the role of culture in framing economic institutions, the role of information in firm performance, and alternative theories of competition.