"The Economics of Higher Education"
Elizabeth "Beth" Akers is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where she focuses on the economics of higher education. Before joining AEI, she worked as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a visiting research scholar at the Federal Reserve Board, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.
Dr. Akers has a PhD in economics from Columbia University and a BS in mathematics and economics from the State University of New York at Albany.
She is the author of Making College Pay: An Economist Explains How to Make a Smart Bet on Higher Education. She is also the coauthor of Game of Loans: The Rhetoric and Reality of Student Debt.
In addition to testifying before Congress, her writing and research have been published in many news publications including Bloomberg Opinion, the Boston Globe, Education Next, New York Daily News, New York Post, Newsweek, Quartz, Time, the Hill, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today.
Her broadcast appearances include ABC News, Bloomberg Television, C-SPAN, and CNBC.
"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 Benne 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.