Dean Stansel is a Research Associate Professor at the Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He earned his B.A. in economics (with honors) and politics from Wake Forest University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. Before entering academia, Prof. Stansel worked for seven years at the Cato Institute, a public-policy research organization in Washington, D.C., where he produced over 60 publications on fiscal policy issues. In addition to his work on Economic Freedom of North America, he is sole author of the Reason Foundation’s U.S. Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index, as well as the author of numerous academic journal articles on a variety of issues in public finance and urban economics. Prof. Stansel’s research has been discussed in many publications including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution; and his commentaries have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Investor’s Business Daily, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News, among others.