The following bio is that of an event speaker or guest author. This person is not directly affiliated with the John Locke Foundation.
Dean Stansel is Research Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University’s Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom(formerly O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom) in the Cox School of Business in Dallas, TX. He is primary author of the Fraser Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) report, which ranks North American states and provinces, and author of the Reason Foundation’s “U.S. Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index.” Along with Fraser, Stansel has helped to create a growing network of state think tanks that meets annually to discuss ways to make use of the EFNA. He has collaborated with more than a dozen state and national think tanks on a variety of projects. Prior to SMU, he was an economics professor at Florida Gulf Coast University for 11 years. Before entering academia, Stansel worked for seven years at the Cato Institute, where he authored more than 60 publications on fiscal policy issues, including the first four editions of their “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors.” His research has appeared in numerous academic journals, and has been cited in the popular press, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His op-eds have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, Washington Post, Dallas Morning News, and Chicago Tribune, among others. Stansel earned his B.A. (with honors) in economics and politics from Wake Forest University in 1991 and his Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University in 2002. He’s married and has two children who they homeschool.