Benjamin Powell

Executive Director

Benjamin Powell, Executive Director

Benjamin Powell is the executive director of the Free Market Institute and a professor of economics in the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business Administration.

Ben’s research and teaching interests include the economics of immigration and the economics of sweatshop labor. His research contributes to scholarly literatures in Austrian economics, public choice, and institutional economics. He has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and policy studies.

Ben is the author of Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2014), coauthor of Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World (with Robert Lawson) (Regnery Publishing, 2019) and coauthor of Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions (with Alex Nowrasteh) (Cambridge University Press, 2020). He is editor or co-editor of four other books including The Economics of Immigration: Market-Based Approaches, Social Science, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2015) and Economic Freedom and Prosperity: The Origins and Maintenance of Liberalization (Routledge Foundations of the Market Economy, 2019).

Ben's research findings have been reported in hundreds of popular press outlets including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He also writes frequently for the popular press. His popular writing has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, New York Post, The Dallas Morning News and many other outlets. He has appeared on numerous radio, podcast, and television programs on networks including Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and Showtime. He was a regular guest commentator on Fox Business Network's Freedom Watch and Stossel.

Ben is a senior fellow with Independent Institute, secretary/treasurer of Southern Economic Association, secretary/treasurer of The Association of Private Enterprise Education, and treasurer of The Mont Pelerin Society.

Ben earned his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. Before joining Texas Tech in January 2013, he taught at San Jose State University and Suffolk University. At Texas Tech, he teaches an undergraduate course in Global Business Economics and Policy and a graduate course in Austrian Economics.

For more information about Dr. Powell, please visit http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/ or his Social Science Research Network (SSRN) page: Benjamin Powell.