Michael David Thomas, PhD

Associate Professor

Contact

Heider College of Business
Economics & Finance - Business
Institute for Economic Inquiry
HARP - Harper Center for Student Life & Learn - 3013

Michael David Thomas, PhD

Associate Professor

Michael D. Thomas is an Associate Professor in the Economics and Finance Department at Creighton University. He was previously a Research Professor at Utah State University, studying transportation economics, regulation policy, and welfare economics. He is a public choice economist who earned a PhD in economics from George Mason university in 2009. Micahel has also studied at Duke University while a fellow at the History of Political Economy Center in 2008-2009. Michael has published papers in Public Choice, Kyklos, the Independent Review, the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, the Journal of City and Town Management, the Review of Austrian Economics, and the Journal of Private Enterprise. His wife, Diana W. Thomas is an associate professor of economics at Creighton. Michael's interest in monetary economics was stimulated while earning a Masters degree at the University of Missouri--St. Louis and while selling mortgage loans during 2001-2003 as a loan originator. Michael received his bachelors degree from the University of Alabama in 2001 and is an avid college football fan.

Teaching Interests

  • Public Choice

Department

Economics and Finance

Position

Associate Professor

Articles

  • Journal of Private Enterprise
    Thomas, Michael D. and Nathan A. Miller , Experimental Public Policy, Discovery, and Behavioral Taxation.
    36(4), p. 1-20 2021
  • Thomas, Michael D. and Diana W. Thomas, Process, Emergence, and the Asymmetries of Regulation: Wagnerian Political Economy 2021
  • Emergence, Entanglement, and Political Economy
    Thomas, Diana W and Michael D. Thomas, The Fiscal Squeeze: Budgets Between Fiscal Illusion, Fiscal Commons, and the Tyranny of Experts
    38, p. 125-137 2020
  • Public Choice
    "Behavioral Symmetry, Rent Seeking, and the Republic of Science" (with Diana W. Thomas"
    183, p. 443-459 2020
  • Kyklos
    'Institutional Change and the Importance of Understanding Shared Mental Models' (With William F. Shughart and Diana W. Thomas) 2019
  • Public Choice
    Reapplying Behavioral Symmetry: Public Choice and Choice Architecture.
    180(1-2), p. 11-25 2018
  • Independent Review
    “The Rise of the Regulatory State: Institutional Entrepreneurship and the Decline of Markets for Blood" (with Diana W. Thomas).
    22(4), p. 485-506 2018
  • Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
    “Income-Expenditure Elasticities of Less Healthy Consumption Goods.” (with Adam J. Hoffer, Rejeana Gvillo, and William F. Shughart)
    14(1), p. 127-148 2017
  • "Nebraska: Undermining Fiscal Discipline and ErodingFederalism" -- Published as a Mercatus workingpaper 2017
  • Regressive Effects: Causes and Consequences of Selective Consumption Taxation”  with Adam Hoffer, Rejeana Gvillo, and Willam F. Shughart), Published as a Mercatus working paper 2015
  • Independent Review
    'Sin Taxes and Sindustry Revenue, Paternalism, and Political Interest' (with Adam J. Hoffer and William F. Shughart)
    19(1), p. 47-64 2014
  • "Effects of Natural Gas Vehicles and Fuel Prices on Key Transportation Economics Metrics" (with Kevin Heaslip, Ryan Bosworth, Ryan Barnes, Ali Soltani Sobh, and Ziqi Song) Published as a WSDOT Research Report, Washing State Department of Transportation 2014
  • Kyklos
    “Rational Irrationality and the Political Process of Repeal: The Women's Organization forNational Prohibition Reform and the 21st Amendment” (with Diana W. Thomas and Nick A. Snow)
    66(1), p. 130-152 2014
  • Review of Austrian Economics
    "Entrepreneurship: Catallactic and Constitutional Perspectives" (With Diana W. Thomas)
    27(1), p. 11-22 2013
  • Journal of Town and City Management
    “Technological Change and the Lowest Common Denominator Problem: An Analysisof Oregon's VMT tax experiment” (with Kevin Heaslip)
    2(2), p. 177-186 2013
  • Journal of Private Enterprise
    "Encouraging a Productive Research Agenda: Peter Boettke and the Devil's Test" (with Diana W. Thomas)
    26(1), p. 103-115 2010
  • Cosmos + Taxis
    "Alcohol Prohibition in the Beehive: How the Word of Wisdom Became a Commandment" (with Diana W. Thomas)

Publications

  • "The Roots of Nebraska’s ‘Fiscal Squeeze’” Editorial. Lincoln Journal-Star 2017
  • "All Taxes Start as Good Intentions, But Don't End that Way" (with William Shughart). Editorial. Inside Sources  2015
  • “Building Community in Ferguson,” Editorial, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 2014
  • "Big Brother Declares War on Consumption" (with William F. Shughart and Adam J. Hoffer). Editorial. USA Today 2013
  • "Sin Tax's Cost Outweighs Benefits" (with William F. Shughart and Adam J. Hoffer). Editorial. US News and World Report 2013

Editing and Reviews

  • Public Choice
    Thomas, Michael D. , Donald J. Boudreaux and Roger Meiners (eds), The Legacy of Bruce Yandle. Arlington, VA: Mercatus center, 2020. xviii+270 pages. USD 19.95 (paperback)
    190, p. 247-250 2021
  • Journal of The History of Economic Thought
    Thomas, Michael D. , Vernon L. Smith and Bart J. Wilson, Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society (Cambridge, UK, and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2019), pp. 215, $28.99 (paperback). ISBN: 9781108185561.
    43(1), p. 159-161 2021
  • Independent Review
    "Markets against Modernity: Ecological Irrationality, Public and Private." 2020
  • Independent Review
    “Mark A. Zupan: Inside Job: How Government Insiders Subvert the Public Interest” 
    22(4), p. 634-637 2018
  • The Review of Austrian Economics
    "Harry G. Frankfurt: On Inequality.” 2017
  • Public Choice
    "Cass R. Sunstein: The ethics of influence: government in the age of behavioral science"
    171 (3-4), p. 429-432 2017
  • Public Choice
    "Wayne A. Leighton and Edward J. Lopez: Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers: The Economic Engine of Political Change" 
    159(1), p. 313-315 2013
  • Journal of The History of Economic Thought
    "Humanomics: Moral Sentiments and the Wealth of Nations for the Twenty-First Century" by Vermon Smith and Bart Wilson

Presentations

  • "Economics and the Enlightenment", Europe and Liberty Seminar, Institute for Economic Studies, at the Friedrich Neumann Foundation für die Freiheit, Gummersbach, DE 2017
  • "Socratic Instruction and Undergraduate Reading Groups" Association of Private Enterprise Education, Lahaina, HI -- Panel Discussion and Presentation 2017
  • "The Paternalism of Taxing Disfavored Goods" Association of Private Enterprise Education, Lahaina, HI -- Paper Presentation 2017
  • "Circumscribed Justice: The Limits of the New Paternalism" Philosophy, Politics, and Economics Society, New Orleans, LA -- Paper Presentation 2017
  • "The Problems in Voting after Rational Irrationality" Southern Economic Association, Washington, DC -- Paper Presentation 2016
  • "Cutting the Epistemic Knot: The Mysticism of Modern Paternalism" Southern Economic Association, Washington, DC -- Paper Presentation 2016
  • "Taxes as Country Club Dues" University of Washington, Seattle, WA -- Paper Presentation 2016
  • "Nebraska: Undermining Fiscal Discipline and Eroding Federalism" Southern EconomicAssociation Meetings, New Orleans, LA -- Paper Presentation 2015
  • "Regressive Effects: Causes and Consequences of Selective Consumption Taxation"Association of Private Enterprise Association, Cancún, MX -- Paper Presentation 2015
  • "Critiques of Behavioral Economics" Southern Economic Association, Atlanta, GA -- Paper Presentation 2014

Awards

  • Cahill Award for Excellence, Heider College of Business Dean's Office , 2018
    For contributing to the legacy of the college of business by recruiting the largest class of incoming Heider Fellows.
    Heider College of Business Dean's Office
  • Cahill Award for Excellence, Heider College of Business Dean's Office , 2019
    For contributing to the legacy of the college of business by establishing the first Faculty Led Program to Vienna, spring 2019.
    Heider College of Business Dean's Office
  • Cahill Award for Excellence
    For contributing to the legacy of the college of business by helping to lead a new program, Business Research Fellows.
    Heider College of Business Dean's Office