Daniel Klein is a Professor of Economics and JIN Chair at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University, where he leads a program in Adam Smith. He leads the Smithian Political Economy program at GMU Economics. He is the chief editor of Econ Journal Watch.
He holds degrees from George Mason University and New York University, where in both cases he studied the classical liberal traditions of economics. His teaching focuses on moral and political theory, economic principles, and public policy issues.
Professor Klein has published research on policy issues including toll roads, urban transit, auto emission, credit reporting, and the Food and Drug Administration. He has also written on spontaneous order, the discovery of opportunity, the demand and supply of assurance, why government officials believe in the goodness of bad policy, and the relationship between liberty, dignity, and responsibility.
Klein is the author of Knowledge and Coordination: A Liberal Interpretation, as well as coauthor of Curb Rights: A Foundation for Free Enterprise in Urban Transit, editor of Reputation: Studies in the Voluntary Elicitation of Good Conduct, and editor of What Do Economists Contribute? Klein is co-edited with Fred Foldvary a book The Half-Life of Policy Rationales: How New Technology Affects Old Policy Issues (New York University Press, 2003).
