Robert Lawson, Ph. D.

Robert Lawson, PhD. holds the Jerome M. Fullinwider Endowed Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom in the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom. Prior to SMU, he taught at Auburn University, Capital University, and Shawnee State University.

Lawson is the co-author of the widely-cited Economic Freedom of the World annual reports, which provides an economic freedom index for over 140 countries. Lawson has served as president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is a member of the prestigious Mont Pelerin Society. He earned his B.S. in economics from the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University and his M.S. and PhD in economics from Florida State University.