Biography

Claudia Williamson Kramer is the Probasco Distinguished Chair of Free Enterprise and Professor of Economics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is also the Director of the Center for Economic Education. Her main research interests lie at the intersection of applied economic development and political economy. A common thread of her work is the combination of incentive and knowledge arguments revealing interesting, and at times, unconventional results. 

Claudia has authored over 55 articles in refereed journals, including the Journal of Law and Economics, World Development, Journal of Comparative Economics, Public Choice, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Institutional Economics, European Journal of Political Economy, Defense and Peace Economics, and the Southern Economic Journal. She has co-edited two books, contributed multiple chapters to edited books, written book reviews, and policy briefs. Her research has also appeared in popular press outlets, such as The Economist and the BBC. 

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According to google scholar, her work is cited over 3,800 times in top journals including the American Economic Review, American Political Science Review, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Law and Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, World Development, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Social Choice and Welfare, and Public Choice. Nine articles have accumulated over 100 citations each, including a solo-authored publication with over 700 citations. 

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Claudia currently serves as an editor for the Journal of Institutional Economics, on the editorial board of Public Choice, on the board of trustees for the Southern Economic Association, and on the board of fellows for the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee. She served as the 2022-2023 President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) and has served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Mississippi Advisory Committee.

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At the undergraduate level, Claudia primarily teaches Principles of Microeconomics. She has taught three doctoral seminars, Foundations to Microeconomic Theory, Seminar in Developing Nations, and Seminar in Public Choice. She also taught Economics for Managers in the MBA program, international economic development at the undergraduate level, and co-taught a doctoral seminar on insider trading. 

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Claudia is a native of West Virginia, earning her undergraduate degree in economics from Marshall University and her PhD in economics from West Virginia University. She spent the 2007-2008 year at George Mason University as the F.A. Hayek Visiting Scholar in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. Claudia was an Assistant Professor (2012-2016) and Associate Professor of Economics and the Drew Allen Endowed Fellow (2016-2020) at Mississippi State University. From 2015-2020, she served as Co-Director of the Institute for Market Studies at Mississippi State University. She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Development Research Institute of New York University from 2009-2012, and she spent the 2008-2009 year as an assistant professor of economics at Appalachian State University. During the summer of 2007, she performed fieldwork on land titling in rural Peru.

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To learn more about Claudia's journey and discovery of economics, click here.