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Education

Ph.D. in Economics, George Mason University, May 2021
M.A. in Economics, George Mason University, 2017
B.A. in Economics, History, Honors (magna cum laude), Math minor, Loyola University New Orleans, 2016

Academic Appointments

Assistant Professor of Economics, California State University San Marcos, August 2023 - Present
Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, Claremont McKenna College, July 2021 - June 2023

Research

Refereed Journal Articles
Under review, The Role of Prison Voice in Criminal Justice Reform, Public Choice
Revise and resubmit, Tauzin, D. and Woltz, K., The Role of Science in Democracy: John Dewey as a Foil to Frank Knight, History of Political Economy
Boettke, P.J., Candela, R., and Woltz, K. (2018) Is the Market Wage the Just Wage? A Reassessment of Factor Pricing and Distributive Justice. Erasmus Journal of Philosophy.

Book Chapters
Skarbek, D. and Woltz, K. (2024) Comparative Approaches to the Study of Prison Gangs and Prison Order in The Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society.

Boettke, P.J., Candela, R., and Woltz, K. (2021) The Institutional Justice of the Market Process: Entrepreneurship, Increasing Returns and Income Distribution, in Capitalism Foundations of the Market Economy, (eds.) Stephen Miller and G.P. Manish, New York: Routledge Foundations of the Market Economy.

Woltz, K. (2020) Democracy in the Age of Mass Incarceration, in The Political Economy of Alexis de Tocqueville, (eds) Peter J. Boettke and Adam Martin, Springer.

Boettke, P. J. and Woltz, K. (2019) Economics and Ethics in the Austrian School of Economics, in The Oxford Handbook of Ethics and Economics, (ed) Mark White, Oxford University Press.

Encyclopedia Entries and Book Reviews
Woltz, K. (2021) Review of The Puzzle of Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies Around the World by David Skarbek, Review of Austrian Economics.

Woltz, K. (2020) Prison Periodicals and Institutional Change, in The Encyclopedia of Law and Economics, (eds) A. Marciano and G. B. Ramello, New York: Springer.

Policy Papers
Revise and resubmit, Contact with the Criminal Justice System and Labor Market Implications: Outcomes, Mechanisms, Policy Solutions, and Remaining Questions (with Liya Palagashvili)

Working Papers
Wardens, Political Scapegoating, and the Role of Prison Journalism
Frank H. Knight on Scientism and Socialism (with Dillon Tauzin)

Works in Progress
A Comparative Analysis of Prison Journalism in the United States and Canada

Courses Taught

Primary Instructor
Econometrics, California State University San Marcos
Criminal Justice Contact and the Labor Market, California State University San Marcos
Principles of Microeconomics, California State University San Marcos
Intermediate Microeconomic Theory II, California State University San Marcos
Intermediate Microeconomics, Claremont McKenna College
Principles of Economic Analysis, Claremont McKenna College
Introduction to Math Economics, George Mason University
Intermediate Macroeconomics, George Mason University
Microeconomic Principles, George Mason University

Awards and Fellowships

2024, Research and Creative Activity Faculty Community Grant, Faculty Center, CSU San Marcos, $500
2024, Equity Minded Pedagogy Training Stipend, CSU Chancellor’s Office
2023, Professional Advancement Travel Award, Office of Graduate Studies and Research, California State University San Marcos
2018-2021, Humane Studies Fellow, Institute for Humane Studies
2016-2021, Graduate Fellow, F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
2016-2021, Ph.D. Fellow, Mercatus Center
2019-2020, Provost’s Supplemental Stipend Enhancement, George Mason University
2018-2019, Provost’s Supplemental Stipend Enhancement, George Mason University
2019-2020, Bradley Fellow, Mercatus Center
2018-2019, Bradley Fellow, Mercatus Center
2020, Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, Mercatus Center
2019, Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, Mercatus Center
2018, Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, Mercatus Center
2017, Graduate Student Summer Research Fellowship, Mercatus Center
2014, Carl Menger Essay Contest Winner, Society for the Development of Austrian Economics

Conferences, Invited talks, and Seminars

Paper Presentations at Academic Conferences
2023 Wardens, Prison Journalism, and Political Scapegoating, Southern Economic Association, November 18-20
2021 Defunding Police: A Public Choice Analysis, Southern Economic Association, November 20-22
2021 A Comparative Analysis of Prison Journalism in Canada, the UK, and the US, Southern Economic Association, November 20-22
2021 Knight, Mises, and the Science of Socialism, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 20-22
2021 The Role of Prison Journalism in the US Criminal Justice System, Public Choice Society Meetings, March 11-13
2021 The Role of Prisoner Voice in Criminal Justice Reform, Public Choice Society Meetings, March 11-13
2020 Prison Newspapers as a Mechanism for the Release of Prisoners, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 21-23
2019 Prison Periodicals, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 23-25
2019 Prison Periodicals, Association for Private Enterprise Education Meetings, April 5-8
2018 Prison Periodicals, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 18-20
2018 Inmate Entrepreneurship and Effective Governance, Association of Private Enterprise Education Meetings, April 1-4
2018 The Institutional Justice of the Market Process: Entrepreneurship, Increasing Returns and Income Distribution, (with Peter J. Boettke and Rosolino Candela), Association of Private Enterprise Education Meetings, April 1-4
2018 Is the Market Wage the Just Wage? A Reassessment of Factor Pricing and Distributive Justice, (with Peter J. Boettke and Rosolino Candela) Association of Private Enterprise Education Meetings, April 1-4
2018 Economics and Ethics in the Austrian School of Economics, (with Peter J. Boettke), PPE Society Meetings, March 15-17

Panels Organized at Academic Conferences
2020 Government and Development, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 21-23
2020 Economics of Civil Liberties, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 21-23
2020 Teaching Students with Political Priors, Southern Economic Association Meetings, November 21-23

Invited Talks
2021 Political Economy of Prison Journalism, RDS Seminar Series, Claremont McKenna College, November
2021 Wardens, Political Scapegoating, and the Role of Prison Journalism, Center for the Study of Economic Liberty, Arizona State University, October
2021 Criminal Justice Reform: An Economist’s Perspective, Economics Society at George Mason University, February
2020 Democracy in the Age of Mass Incarceration, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, April
2019 Criminal Justice Reform in the US: An Economist’s Perspective, Economics Club at Loyola University New Orleans, November
2019 Criminal Justice Reform in the US: An Economist’s Perspective,” Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, September

Invited Seminars and Workshops
2023 Expanding Diversity in Undergraduate Classes with Advancements in the Teaching of Economics Workshop, American Economic Association, June
2021 Non-Doctoral CeMENT Workshop, CSWEP, January
2021 Applied Research: Foundations of a Free Society, Mercatus Center, November
2021 Unnecessary Evils: Laws, Judging, and Policing in an Overcriminalized World, Institute for Humane Studies, July
2021 Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Methods Research, June
2021 Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit in Retrospect, Liberty Fund, February
2019 Graduate Research Workshop, Institute for Humane Studies, November
2019 Liberty, the Welfare State, and the New Deal, Institute for Humane Studies/ Liberty Fund, October
2019 Applied Research in Political Economy, Classical Liberalism in Contemporary Political Philosophy, Mercatus Center, June
2019 Inequality in the 21st Century Book Manuscript Workshop, American Institute for Economic Research, April
2019 Symposium on Tocqueville on Pauperism, Mercatus Center, April
2018 Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, Institute for Humane Studies/ Liberty Fund, September
2018 Applied Research in Political Economy, Tocqueville Colloquium, Mercatus Center, June
2018 Applied Research in Political Economy, Civil Liberties Colloquium, Mercatus Center, May
2017 Applied Research in the PPE Framework, Mercatus Center, June
2017 Property Rights and Freedom Seminar, Institute for Humane Studies/ Liberty Fund, February

Referee and Reviewer

Public Choice
European Journal of Law and Economics
Review of Austrian Economics
Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
Journal of Private Enterprise

professional memberships

American Economic Association
Society for the Development of Austrian Economics
Public Choice Society

References

Peter Boettke, University Professor of Economics and Philosophy, BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030. pboettke@gmu.edu
Chris Coyne, Director of Graduate Programs, Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030. ccoyne3@gmu.edu
Jayme Lemke, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030. jlemke@mercatus.gmu.edu