Emory University
Ph.D., Economics, 2003

College of the Holy Cross
B.A., Economics, 1997

Texas Tech University
Professor of Economics, Rawls College of Business, 2016-
Director of Graduate Students, Free Market Institute, 2016-
Research Fellow, Free Market Institute 2016-

West Virginia University
Associate Professor of Economics, 2011-2016
Assistant Professor of Economics, 2009-2011

University of Mississippi
Assistant Professor of Economics, 2004-2009

Emory University
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, 2003-2004

Contemporary Economic Policy
Associate Editor, 2014-

Southern Economic Journal
Associate Editor, 2014-

The Journal of Private Enterprise
Editorial Board Member, 2015-

The Review of Austrian Economics
Editorial Board Member, 2012-

The Association of Private Enterprise Education
Past President, 2019-2020
President, 2018-2019
Vice President, 2017-2018

Society for the Development of Austrian Economics
President, 2018

2023

The Limits of Generality for Constitutional Design
Journal of Institutional Economics

Historical Representative Assembly Experiences and Constitutionalism Today
Comparative Economic Studies (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik)

A Rising Tide that Lifts All Boats: An Analysis of Economic Freedom and Inequality Using Matching Methods
Journal of Comparative Economics (with Justin Callais)

Revolutionary Constitutions: Are They Revolutionary in Terms of Constitutional Design?
Public Choice (with Justin Callais)

Costly Discrimination and Ethnic Conflict: The Case of the Liberian Civil Wars
The Journal of Private Enterprise

Do Longer Constitutions Corrupt?
European Journal of Political Economy (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik and Israt Jahan)

2022

Consent or Coordination? Assemblies in Early Medieval Europe
International Review of Law and Economics

Sorting out the Aid-Corruption Nexus
Journal of Institutional Economics (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik)

The Causal Effects of Rule of Law & Property Rights on Fiscal Capacity
European Journal of Political Economy (with Kevin Grier and Robin Grier)

Does Aid Cause Changes in Economic Freedom?
Southern Economic Journal (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik and Benjamin Powell)

Does Rigidity Matter? Constitutional Entrenchment and Growth
European Journal of Law and Economics (with Justin Callais)

The Peace of God
Rationality & Society

2021

What is a Classical Liberal Constitution?
The Independent Review (with John Dove)

Carolingians at the Doorstep? The Maturing Limited Access Order of Early Medieval Europe
International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society

The Political Economy of Feudalism in Medieval Europe
Constitutional Political Economy

Does Constitutional Entrenchment Matter for Economic Freedom?
Contemporary Economic Policy (with Justin Callais)

The Government Spending Multiplier in Latin American Countries: Does the Institutional Environment Matter?
Journal of Financial Economic Policy (with Rafael Acevedo and Jose Mora)

The Legacy of Representation in Medieval Europe for Incomes and Institutions Today
Southern Economic Journal (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik)

Promise, Trust, and Betrayal: Costs of Breaching an Implicit Contract
Southern Economic Journal (with Daniel Levy)

What Constitutes a Constitutional Amendment Culture?
European Journal of Political Economy (with Danko Tarabar)

2020

Medieval European Traditions in Representation and State Capacity Today
Economics of Governance (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik)

Evaluating the Effects of Small Business Administration Lending on Growth
Small Business Economics (with Matthew Higgins, Donald Lacombe, and Briana Stenard)

2019

US State Constitutional Entrenchment and Default in the Nineteenth Century
Journal of Institutional Economics (with John Dove)

How Austrians can Contribute to Constitutional Political Economy (and Why They Should)
The Review of Austrian Economics

Did Technology Transfer More Rapidly East-West than North-South?
European Economic Review (with Jamie Bologna Pavlik)

The Carolingians, the Church, and the Medieval Constitution
The Social Science Journal

Polycentric Sovereignty: The Medieval Constitution, Governance Quality, and the Wealth of Nations
Social Science Quarterly (with Alexander Salter)

2018

A Theory of Self-Enforcing Monetary Constitutions with Reference to the Suffolk System, 1825-1858
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization (with Alexander Salter)

Would a Free Banking System Stabilize NGDP Growth?
The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance (with Alexander Salter)

Do Unions Increase Labor Shares? Evidence from U.S. Industry-Level Data
Eastern Economic Journal (with Hernando Zuleta)

How Global is Globalization?
Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy (with Jac Heckelman)

Hospitalitas: Barbarian Settlements and Constitutional Foundation of Medieval Europe
Journal of Institutional Economics

Medieval Representative Assemblies: Collective Action and Antecedents of Limited Government
Constitutional Political Economy (with Alexander Salter)

Globalization and the Decline in Labor Shares: Exploring the Relationship beyond Trade and Financial Flows
European Journal of Political Economy (with Maria Tackett)

2017

Globalization, Institutions, and Income Convergence
Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy (with Kaitlyn Harger and Joshua Hall)

Can Foreign Aid Motivate Institutional Reform? An Evaluation of the HIPC Initiative
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy (with Minh Tam Schlosky)

Liberalizing Reforms and the European Union: Accession, Membership, and Convergence
Southern Economic Journal (with Danko Tarabar)

How the City Air Made Us Free: The Self-Governing Medieval City and the Bourgeois Revaluation
The Journal of Private Enterprise