"Economic Freedom: Trade-Offs, Free Lunches or
Something in Between?"
Joshua Hall is Milan Puskar Dean and Professor of Economics in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University.
He was the 2019-20 Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Behavioral and Social Sciences at WVU and holds a bachelor’s and master’s in economics from Ohio University. He earned a Ph.D. from WVU in 2007. Prior to returning to WVU, he was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics at Beloit College.
He serves as editor of the Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals and edited 17 books.
"Does Taxing the Rich Work?"
Arthur B. Laffer is the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm.
Dr. Laffer’s economic acumen and influence in triggering a worldwide tax-cutting movement in the 1980s have earned him the distinction in many publications as “The Father of Supply-Side Economics.” One of his earliest successes in shaping public policy was his involvement in Proposition 13, the groundbreaking California initiative that drastically cut property taxes in the state in 1978.
Dr. Laffer was a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board for both of his two terms (1981-1989), was a member of the Executive Committee of the Reagan/Bush Finance Committee in 1984, and was a founding member of the Reagan Executive Advisory Committee for the Presidential race of 1980. He also advised Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on fiscal policy in the UK during the 1980s.
In 2019, Dr. Laffer was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Donald Trump.
Dr. Laffer currently sits on the board of directors or advisors of a number of private and public companies, including AML RightSource, ARK Investment Management, Armor Concepts, BelHealth Investment Partners, Gemini Bio, GoodCell, Gridiron Capital, NexPoint Real Estate Finance, NexPoint Residential Trust, Precision Diagnostics, Preverity, Tenth Avenue Holdings, The Service Companies, VerifyMe, VineBrook Homes Trust, and others.
Dr. Laffer has authored over twenty books, including the New York Times bestseller, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States (Wiley 2014), and Taxes Have Consequences: An Income Tax History of the United States, released by Post Hill Press in September 2022