Benjamin Powell

Benjamin Powell earned his B.A. in art history from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. He is a professor of the Introduction to Business course at Texas Tech University's Rawls College of Business{{cite web |title=Benjamin Powell {{!}} Energy Commerce and Business Economics {{!}} Faculty {{!}} Our People {{!}} RCOBA Home {{!}} TTU |url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/rawlsbusiness/people/faculty/eel/benjamin-powell/index.php |website=www.depts.ttu.edu}} and the director of the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University.{{cite web |title=Free Market Institute – Our People {{!}} Free Market Institute {{!}} TTU |url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/people.php |website=www.depts.ttu.edu}} Previously, he was an associate professor of economics at Suffolk University and an assistant professor of economics at San Jose State University. He has performed numerous other professional roles in the past including director of the Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation at the Independent Institute.,{{cite web |title=Economist Benjamin Powell Joins Independent Institute to Head Center on Entrepreneurial Innovation |url=http://www.independent.org/news/news_detail.asp?newsID=38 |website=The Independent Institute}} President of Association of Private Enterprise Education,{{cite web |title=Free Market Institute – Our People – Benjamin Powell, Ph.D. |publisher= Free Market Institute {{!}} TTU |url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/freemarketinstitute/people/powell.php |website=www.depts.ttu.edu}} North American editor of the Review of Austrian Economics,{{cite web |title=The Review of Austrian Economics – incl. option to publish open access |url=https://www.springer.com/economics/public+finance/journal/11138 |website=springer.com |language=en}} senior economist at the Beacon Hill Institute, editorial board member at the Journal of Private Enterprise,{{cite web |title=Main Page |url=http://journal.apee.org/index.php/Main_Page |website=Journal of Private Enterprise}} and host and co-executive producer of KTTZ Channel 5 Lubbock's{{snd}}a PBS affiliate{{snd}}Free to Exchange.{{cite web |title=Free to Exchange |url=https://tv.kttz.org/local-productions/free-to-exchange/ |website=KTTZ – TV |language=en}}

Powell's academic interest in sweatshops dates back to at least 2004, when he wrote a working paper along with David Skarbek for the Independent Institute looking at how sweatshop jobs compared with the other jobs available to people who took them. The working paper was later published as an article for the Journal of Labor Research.{{cite journal|title = Sweatshops and Third World Living Standards: Are the Jobs Worth the Sweat?|last1= Powell|first1 = Benjamin|last2 = Skarbek|first2 = David|journal = Journal of Labor Research|volume = 27|number = 2|pages= 263–274|date = Spring 2006|access-date = February 5, 2014|url=http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications/journal-articles/sweatshops-and-third-world-living-standards.pdf|doi= 10.1007/s12122-006-1006-z|s2cid= 55642948}} Powell also wrote an article for Human Rights Quarterly, responding to the argument by Arnold and Hartman (2006) that activists should encourage sweatshop employers to voluntarily work toward improving the conditions of sweatshop workers.{{cite journal|url=http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications/journal-articles/in-reply-to-sweatshop-sophistries.pdf|title = In Reply To Sweatshop Sophistries|last = Powell|first = Benjamin|publisher = Human Rights Quarterly|date = November 2006|volume = 28|number = 4|access-date = February 5, 2014}} Powell has since written journal articles on sweatshops for the Journal of Business Ethics{{cite journal|title = The Ethical and Economic Case Against Sweatshop Labor: A Critical Assessment|last1 = Powell|first1 = Benjamin|last2 = Zwolinski|first2 = Matt|journal = Journal of Business Ethics|volume = 107|issue = 4|pages = 449–472|date = September 19, 2011|access-date = February 5, 2014|url = http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications/journal-articles/powell-and-zwolinski-the-ethical-and-economic-case-against-sweatshop-labor.pdf|doi = 10.1007/s10551-011-1058-8|s2cid = 32850736}} and Comparative Economic Studies{{cite web|url=http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications-journal-articles.html|title = Journal Articles|last = Powell|first = Benjamin|access-date = February 5, 2014}} and has also written about sweatshops based on his research in other venues, such as Forbes,{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/05/02/sweatshops-in-bangladesh-improve-the-lives-of-their-workers-and-boost-growth/|title = Sweatshops In Bangladesh Improve The Lives Of Their Workers, And Boost Growth|last = Powell|first = Benjamin|website = Forbes|date = May 2, 2013|access-date = February 5, 2014}} The Christian Science Monitor,{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0802/p09s02-coop.html|title = Don't get into a lather over sweatshops |last1 = Powell|first1 = Benjamin|last2 = Skarbek|first2 = David|date = August 2, 2005|access-date = February 5, 2014|newspaper =The Christian Science Monitor}} and Dallas Morning News.{{cite news|url=http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20130517-benjamin-powell-in-defense-of-sweatshops.ece|title = Benjamin Powell: In defense of sweatshops |last = Powell|first = Benjamin|date = May 17, 2013|access-date = February 5, 2014|newspaper = Dallas Morning News}} He has also summarized his arguments in a 3-minute video for LearnLiberty.{{cite web|url=http://www.learnliberty.org/content/unbelievable-truth-about-sweatshops|title = The Unbelievable Truth about Sweatshops|last = Powell|first = Benjamin|publisher = LearnLiberty|access-date = February 5, 2014}}

Powell has studied the economics of anarchy. He wrote a journal article along with Ryan Ford and Alex Nowrasteh comparing Somalia before and after it transitioned to anarchy.{{cite journal|url=http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications/journal-articles/powell-and-zwolinski-the-ethical-and-economic-case-against-sweatshop-labor.pdf|title = Somalia after state collapse: Chaos or improvement?|journal = Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization|volume = 67|issue = 3–4|date = May 16, 2008|pages = 657–670|access-date = February 5, 2014|last1 = Powell|first1 = Benjamin|last2 = Ford|first2 = Ryan|last3 = Nowrasteh|first3 = Alex|author-link3 = Alex Nowrasteh|doi=10.1016/j.jebo.2008.04.008|citeseerx = 10.1.1.365.6345}}

Powell has also co-authored with Edward Stringham a paper on public choice theory and its implications for the economics of anarchy.{{cite journal|url=http://www.benjaminwpowell.com/scholarly-publications/journal-articles/Public-choice-and-the-economic-analysis-of-anarchy.pdf|title = Public choice and the economics of anarchy: a survey|last1 = Powell|first1 = Benjamin|last2 = Stringham|first2 = Edward|publisher = Public Choice|year = 2009|access-date = February 5, 2014|volume = 140|pages = 503–538}}

Powell was the editor of the 2007 volume Making Poor Nations Rich: Entrepreneurship and the Process of Economic Development published by the Independent Institute in collaboration with Stanford University Press as part of the Stanford Economics and Finance series.Reviews of Making Poor Nations Rich:

• {{citation|last=Carden|first=Art|date=May 2008|doi=10.1007/s11138-008-0052-6|issue=4|journal=The Review of Austrian Economics|pages=355–359|title=none|volume=21|s2cid=154229225}}
• {{citation|last=Maltsev|first=Yuri|date=June 2008|doi=10.1007/s12113-008-9041-7|issue=2|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics|pages=154–158|title=none|volume=11|s2cid=152333552}}
• {{citation|last=Vorley|first=Tim|date=May 2010|doi=10.1002/jid.1532|issue=4|journal=Journal of International Development|pages=538–539|title=none|volume=22}} He also edited The Economics of Immigration: Market-based Approaches, Social Science, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2015).

He is the author of Out of Poverty: Sweatshops in the Global Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2014).Reviews of Out of Poverty:

• {{citation|last=Coyne|first=Christopher J.|date=March 2015|issue=3/4|journal=Public Choice|jstor=24507715|pages=463–465|title=none|volume=162|doi=10.1007/s11127-015-0234-2|s2cid=150803699}}
• {{citation|last=Cooper|first=Richard N.|date=September–October 2014|issue=5|pages=181|journal=Foreign Affairs|jstor=24483326|title=none|volume=93}}

With Robert Lawson, he is the co-author of Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World (Regnery Press, 2019).

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Category:1978 births

Category:Living people

Category:George Mason University alumni

Category:Suffolk University faculty

Category:Texas Tech University faculty

Category:21st-century American economists

Category:Libertarian economists