Bryan Caplan American economist and writer Date of Birth: 08.04.1971 Country: USA

1. Biography of Bryan Caplan
2. Career and Contributions
3. Early Life and Education
4. Academic Career
5. Awards and Recognition
6. Additional Contributions

Biography of Bryan Caplan

Bryan Caplan is an American economist and writer, known for his work in the fields of libertarian philosophy, free market capitalism, and anarchism. He is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Career and Contributions

In addition to his role as a professor, Caplan is a co-author of two books and has written numerous journal articles. He is also one of the editors of the EconLog blog, along with Arnold Kling and David Henderson. Caplan frequently contributes as a guest blogger on the economic blog Marginal Revolution. He often addresses controversial and provocative topics in his writing.

Caplan is affiliated with the Cato Institute, a research and educational organization founded in 1977 in Washington, D.C. His book "The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies," first published in 2007 by Princeton University Press, has received high praise from colleagues and is widely cited in both academic and popular economic publications. His second book, "Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids," which explores the institution of family from unexpected angles, is set to be released in 2011 by Basic Books in New York.

Early Life and Education

Bryan Caplan was born on April 8, 1971. He earned his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993 and his doctoral degree in economics from Princeton University in 1997.

Academic Career

Caplan worked as a senior lecturer in economics at George Mason University from 1997 to 2003. He then served as an adjunct professor of economics from 2003 to 2010 before becoming a full professor in 2010. His research interests include public sector economics, family economics, genoeconomics, and the intersection of psychology and economics. He is particularly focused on the economics of the public sector and has criticized the assumption of the rational voter, a fundamental concept in public choice theory.

Awards and Recognition

In 2005, Bryan Caplan was awarded the Thomas S. Szasz Award for his outstanding contributions to civil liberties. In 2006, he shared the Templeton Enterprise Awards with Edward Stringham for their journal publications.

Additional Contributions

Caplan maintains a website that includes a section called the "Museum of Communism," which provides historical, economic, and philosophical analysis of communism as a political movement. The purpose of this section is to draw attention to human rights violations committed under communism, some of which Caplan argues exceed the actions of Nazi Germany but remain largely unknown to the general public.