Daniel Klein is professor of economics and JIN Chair at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and director of the Adam Smith Program. He is the author of Smithian Morals, Central Notions of Smithian Liberalism, and Knowledge and Coordination: A Liberal Interpretation. He is chief editor of Econ Journal Watch.
Donald J. Boudreaux is Professor of Economics at George Mason University and former Chairman of GMU's Department of Economics. He is also a Senior Fellow at George Mason's Mercatus Center. He writes a weekly column for AIER and blogs regularly at Cafe Hayek (www.cafehayek.com).
Erik W. Matson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center and Deputy Director of the Adam Smith Program. He serves, additionally, as a lecturer in political economy at the Catholic University of America in the Busch School of Business.
Current program fellows are MA and PhD students in the Department of Economics at GMU. Most fellows take the Smithian Political Economy course sequence and pursue research projects in the history of economic thought (especially the thought of Smith or David Hume), economic history, and political economy.
Jacob Bond is a Bachelor's to Accelerated Master's student at George Mason University, finishing his fourth-year in the Bachelor’s program and starting his first-year in the Master’s program in Economics.
Patrick Fitzsimmons is a fourth-year PhD student in economics at George Mason University. He is an economic historian interested in early historical development and the effects of informal and formal institutions on long-term development.
Eugenio Garza is a third-year PhD student in economics at George Mason University. He earned his undegraduate degree in economics from Universidad de Monterrey. Eugenio previously worked as a research assistant for the Economics Department at IPADE Business School. His research interests include economic development, political economy, economic sociology, philosophy, and ethics.
Brian Mandeville is a third-year PhD student in economics at George Mason University and PhD Fellow with the Mercatus Center. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Virginia and a MA in Economics from GMU. His fields of specialization are Austrian Economics and Public Choice. His research interests include intervention and development, the role of ideas and cultural beliefs in economic growth, and the endogenous formation of formal and informal rules that govern social behavior.
Michaela Loughran is a third-year MA student in economics at GMU. She previously graduated from GMU with a double major in history and economics. She is interested in Smithian political economy and economic and intellectual history. She works as managing editor for a classical education nonprofit.
Caleb is a PhD candidate in economics at GMU and a F.A. Hayek fellow at the Mercatus Center. His research interests include Smithian political economy and the historical political economy of the Navigation Acts.
Sebastian Rodriguez is a third-year Ph.D. student in economics at George Mason University. He earned an M.A. in Economics from Francisco Marroquin University and a B.S. in Business from EAFIT University in Colombia. Sebastian worked for more than ten years in the finance and investment sector, founding several U.S. and Latin American companies. His research interests include the development process of economic and political ideas, entrepreneurship, and interventionism.
Nicholas Swanson is a PhD student in economics at George Mason University, and a Graduate Scholar at the Institute for Human Ecology at The Catholic University of America. He has also served as a lecturer in political economy at the Busch School of Business at Catholic University. His research interests include classical liberalism, Adam Smith, the history of economic thought, and the intersection of Catholic social teaching with economics. Nicholas holds an MA in economics from George Mason University, where he was honored as an outstanding graduate student, and a BA in history and Hispanic studies, summa cum laude, from Catholic University.
Tegan Truitt is a PhD student in the Department of Economics at George Mason University and Graduate Fellow in the F. A. Hayek Program at the Mercatus Center. He earned his B.A. in economics and philosophy at Grove City College. He researches the political economy of autocracy, comparative systems, and philosophy of social science.
Max Laraia is a fourth-year economics student at George Mason University. Max is also an Undergraduate Scholar at the Mercatus Center and serves on the board of the George Mason Economics Society.
George Murray is a current third year undergraduate economics student at George Mason University. George is a former treasurer of the GMU Economics Society.
Ali Motamedi is a first year accelerated Masters student at George Mason University. Ali is also a research consultant with the Heritage Foundation, the president of the George Mason University College Republicans, and the Chairman of the Virginia College Republicans.
Binglei Ni is a second-year undergraduate student studying economics at George Mason University. She is a board member of the GMU Economics Society. Drawing from her cross-cultural experiences, Binglei is particularly interested in global economics and economic philosophy.
Alice Zhang is a third-year undergraduate student at George Mason University, majoring in economics. She also serves as President of the GMU Economics Society and works as a Marketing Assistant at INTO Mason.
The following are past program fellows who wrote dissertations that focused on Adam Smith or David Hume.
Kendra Asher defended her dissertation on the use of esotericism in the works of David Hume in the spring of 2021. Her broader research interests include Adam Smith and economic philosophy.
Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Mark Bonica is an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Department of Health Management and Policy where he teaches courses in management and finance. He joined the UNH faculty in January of 2015 after serving in the Army Medical Department as a Medical Service Corps officer for 23 years. The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he retired as the Associate Dean of the Army Medical Department Graduate School, and the Deputy Director of the Army-Baylor Graduate Programs in Health and Business Administration.
He holds a PhD in Economics from George Mason University (writing on Smith on reputation and defamation laws), an MBA with a focus in organizational behavior from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an MS in Finance from the University of Colorado at Denver, and a BA in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is also the host of the healthcare leadership podcast, The Health Leader Forge (http://healthleaderforge.org ) and the author of the weekly leadership newsletter, Reading, Watching, Listening (https://markbonica.substack.com/ ).
Michael J. Clark is an associate professor at Hillsdale College. He holds the Wallace and Marion Reemelin Chair in Free Market Education and has been recognized in a number of ways for his outstanding teaching efforts. He is a three time finalist for the college-wide professor of the year at Hillsdale. He won the National Economics Teachers Association’s award for 2019’s best pedagogical innovation in economics for the "Alchian Maze." And, prior to his time at Hillsdale, he taught at the University of Baltimore where he earned a school of business top teacher award. Michael has also taught for the Foundation for Economic Education, the Koch Fellows Program, and is on the Mackinac Center's Board of Scholars.
Jonathon received his Ph.D. from George Mason University in 2017. His dissertation focused on aspects of Smith's work such as usury policy and the relationship between Smith's sympathetic system, the rule of law, and the legal roles that individuals occupy in relation to one another focusing on the role of a superior acting on behalf of the state. His work has been published in The Adam Smith Review and The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. Jonathon lives in northern Virginia with his wife and three children where he has worked as a government contractor for the last 15 years where he endeavors to deepen his Smith scholarship.
Scott Drylie is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Graduate Program for Cost Analysis at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in Dayton, Ohio. He has undergraduate degrees in economics and German, a Master’s of Education, a Master’s of Cost Analysis, and a PhD in Economics from GMU. His research on Adam Smith on schooling, flowing from his dissertation, has been published in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Econ Journal Watch. His recent research sheds light on contractor profit, the costs of software development, military retention, the effectiveness of Department of Defense (DoD) estimating, and the impact of regulations on DoD acquisition processes. He also continues to research topics related to Adam Smith. Scott Drylie is an active duty officer in the U.S. Air Force with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He has served in numerous positions in budget, economics and cost analysis. He has supported special investigations, construction projects, space programs, major weapon system development, Middle East reconstruction, Air Force auditing, and DoD policy development.
Eric Hammer received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2018 where he was a Ph.D. Fellow at the Mercatus Center and an Adam Smith Fellow. He has been nominated for the George Mason University Teaching Excellence Award, the Career Connection Faculty Award, and was a 2016 Public Choice Society Vincent & Elinor Ostrom Prize finalist. His Macroeconomic Principles course was recognized for being an outstanding Mason Core course. His academic interests include public choice economics, history of economic thought, law and economics, and computational social science. He works and lives with his wife and three children in southeast Pennsylvania.
Andrew G. Humphries is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Arizona State University in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Andrew defended his dissertation on Smith and Tocqueville at GMU in the spring of 2021. He earned his MA in Economics from George Mason, his M.Ed. from Endicott College, and his BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College. He previously worked as an educator in the United States, India, and Guatemala. In addition to his interests in Smithian Political Economy, Austrian economics, and Law & Economics, he is passionate about liberal education and Socratic pedagogy.
Brandon Lucas is a financial management professional with experience in finance, budget, and cost analysis. He is currently developing curriculum and teaching for the Air Force Acquisition Instructor Course. He has a Master’s of Education, Master’s in International Relations, and a Master’s of Cost Analysis. He completed his PhD in Economics at George Mason University, writing on the distributive justice of commerce and evolutionary ideas in Adam Smith. His current research focuses on profit, incentives, and cost/schedule growth within the DoD acquisition system.
Christopher Martin is an associate professor of economics at Hillsdale College in Michigan. Previously, he has taught at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma and was a John Marshall Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Richmond’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies. He is a 2012 graduate of George Mason University’s doctoral economics program, where he wrote his dissertation, “Sympathy, Poverty, and Justice: Three Essays on the History of Economics with an Emphasis on Adam Smith.” Before his academic career Chris served for several years as an educational programs manager at the Institute for Humane Studies in Arlington, Virginia.
Erik Matson was a program fellow (2014–2017) and now serves as program deputy director.
Dr. Paul Mueller is an associate professor of economics and chair of the program in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at The King's College in Manhattan. He has published articles in the Adam Smith Review, Econ Journal Watch, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Review of Austrian Economics, Journal of Private Enterprise, and Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. He has written a book on the 2008 Financial Crisis. He has written for USA Today, Fox News, and The Hill. His interests include financial markets, the Scottish Enlightenment, 18th century British liberalism (especially Adam Smith), the Great Books of the liberal arts, and Austrian economics. During the school year, Dr. Mueller lives with his wife and five children in Harrison, NJ. But summers are spent at a bed and breakfast he and his wife own in Colorado called The Abbey.
John Robinson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University, where he teaches in the Intelligence Analysis Program. He previously taught History of Economic Thought, Political Economy, and Economics and Ethics in JMU’s Economics Department. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2016, with fields in Political Economy and History of Economic Thought. His research has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Private Enterprise, Journal of Scottish Philosophy, Econ Journal Watch, and The Independent Review. His website is: www.johnandrewrobinson.com
Hairuo Tan is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at Arizona State University. In 2024, she defended her dissertation - 'Three Essays on Adam Smith's Moral Philosophy and Political Economy' - at George Mason University. She holds an MS in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and a BS in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from Colorado School of Mines. Her primary research interests lie in the history of economic thought.
Kacey received her PhD in economics from George Mason in 2024. Her work has been published in Public Choice, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Review of Austrian Economics. Kacey currently lives in New Haven, CT with her husband and two sons.
The following are other past program fellows who did not write dissertations focusing on Adam Smith or David Hume.
Yahya Alshamy is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at New York University’s Department of Economics, at The Program on the Foundations of the Market Economy. He is also an associate research fellow for the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS). He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University. His research focuses on institutional analysis of policy-relevant areas, particularly international development, defense, and peace-building policy, and behavioral public policy. Alshamy has an engaged interest in Smithian Political Economy and its intersection with behavioral economics. His work has been published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Constitutional Political Economy, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice, Peace Review, and The Independent Review.
Fernando Arteaga is the academic director of the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets and a senior fellow within the Economics Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and a Bachelor's degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His research agenda lies at the intersection between economic history, new institutional economics, and development economics.
Dr. Abigail Devereaux is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Economic Growth and Assistant Professor of Economics in the W. Frank Barton Business School at Wichita State University. Abigail earned her Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in May 2020, winning the Israel M. Kirzner award for best dissertation in Austrian economics under the direction of Richard E. Wagner. She holds an M.A. degree in mathematics and a B.A. in physics from Boston University. She is also a fellow at New York University’s Classical Liberal Institute and the Independent Institute. She has published in several journals, including the Journal of Institutional Economics, The American Economist, and the Review of Austrian Economics. Her theoretical research includes the development of synecological game theory, the theory of synergetic coupled games; combinatorial growth theory, explaining world GDP progression as a process of "tinkering and trade;" and the theory of piecemeal circumnavigation, which relates technological innovation to entrepreneurial exit. Her applied research includes work on nudge theory, in particular, the implications of algorithmic governance utilizing nudge-type interventions, and the analysis of China’s Social Credit System.
Colin Doran is an international economist with the Department of Commerce. He previously worked as a manager with the Regulatory Economics Group. Dr. Doran received his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University where he now teaches as an adjunct. He specializes in microeconometrics, and he has recently published research in the Southern Economic Journal and the Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics. His coauthored work on Adam Smith and David Hume has been published in Journal of Scottish Philosophy and History of European Ideas.
Jacob Hall is a postdoctoral fellow in the economics department at the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Institute for the Study of Markets. He received his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 2023. His research lies at the intersection of economic history and political economy. His personal webpage is https://jacobrhall.github.io/.
Karras Lambert is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Economics at George Mason University. He teaches courses on economic theory as a graduate lecturer for George Mason University and as a lecturer for Francisco Marroquín University. He previously earned a Master of Finance degree from Peking University HSBC Business School and a B.S. in economics from Drexel University.
Peter Marshall is a Ph.D. candidate at George Mason University studying an eclectic selection of topics. He has studied monetary economics, economic history, Austrian economics, and Adam Smith among other topics. He is currently writing his dissertation on benefit corporations.
Jon Murphy is an Instructor of Economics at Western Carolina University. He defended his dissertation in April 2022. In the 2021-2022 academic year he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society at Syracuse University. His current research focuses on market failure and externalities. One of his current projects is expanding and developing ideas of expert failure and applying those ideas to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also done work in political economy and international trade. His personal webpage is jonmmurphy.com.
Dominic Pino earned his MA in economics from GMU in December 2021. He graduated with his bachelor’s degree in economics, also from George Mason University, in May 2020. He is currently a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism at the National Review Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @DominicJPino.
Marcus Shera is a postdoctoral Research Associate with the Smith Institute at Chapman University. He graduated from George Mason University with a PhD in Economics in Summer 2024 writing a dissertation on the political economy of Chrisitan Monasticism. He was also a Hayek Fellow with the Mercatus Center and has taught in the Busch School of Business at Catholic University. His research interests are in economic history, the economics of religion, and Smithian political economy. He blogs and has video conversations at theeconplayground.com and his academic website is at www.marcusshera.com. Marcus is also deeply interested in theology, American Pragmatism, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth.
The following are professors who have served on committees of dissertations on Smith or Hume.
