Students

2008 Center Doctorates

 Kail Padgitt defended his dissertation, "The Effects of Legitimacy and Transparency of leadership...An Experimental Study," under adviser Dan Houser. He is currently working for the Koch Foundation.

Jennis Biser defended her dissertation, "The United States Supreme Court and Regulatory Takings Judgements 1905-2005," under adviser Charles Rowley. She is teaching at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro.

Matthew Mitchell defended his dissertation, "Justices, Presidents and Politicians: A Strategic Account of Supreme Court Nominations," under adviser Thomas Stratmann. He currently works for Koch Foundation.

William Butterfield defended his dissertation, "Prizes for Development:  The Political Economy of Subsidizing Good Institutional Outcomes," under adviser Roger Congleton.

Gordon Smith defended his dissertation, "The Effects of a Generalized Appreciation of East Asian Currencies on Exports from China," with Roger Congleton.

Andrew Wise defended his dissertation, "The Illusion of Independent Regulatory Commission Independence," under adviser Charles Rowley. His committee included Roger Congleton.

Yongjing (Eugene) Zhang defended his dissertation, "The Evolution of China Towards an Authoritarian Market Economy," under adviser Charles Rowley. His committee included Gordon Tullock. He is currently a visiting assistant professor at Vassar College.

Mattie Albert is a sophomore Economics major with an interest in economics development. She is working on the Saving the Ideas, economic history textbook and the Summer Institute projects with David Levy.

Brian Blase is a third-year graduate student at George Mason University who is focusing his studies on public finance and health economics.  He has worked on a project analyzing the causes of variation in state Medicaid programs, which he hopes to publish.  He has also done work for Bryan Caplan in regards to his forthcoming book on the selfish reasons to have more children.

Eli Dourado is a third-year Ph.D. student.  His current projects include an empirical study of terrorism and a positive analysis of constitutional jurisprudential theory.

Nakul Kumar is a second-year student who is working in the fields of Institutional Economics and Public Choice.

Michael Thomas is a fourth year student.  He is currently studying the history of ideas at Duke University's History of Political Economy Center.   Michael contributed to the proofreading of David Levy and Sandra Peart's The Street Porter and the Philosopher as well as the 2008 Summer Institute.  He is working on a dissertation with David M. Levy, Peter J. Boettke, and Virgil H. Storr on the overlapping limits of constitutional rules and paternalism.  Michael is grateful for the support of the Mercatus Center's dissertation fellowship for his research. 

Diana Weinert is a fourth year PhD student. Her research focuses on Public Choice and Development Economics. Specifically she considers how the institutional characteristics of regulation influence the persistence of entrenched political and economic interests over time. In her job market paper, "Deregulation Despite Transitional Gains,” she provides answers to the important question of how entrenched interests can be overcome to achieve political reform in a climate of economic stagnation.