Richard Vedder
Senior Fellow & Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus
Independent Institute, Ohio University
Richard Vedder has spent over six decades in higher education as student, faculty member, and professional observer. He served on the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education, initiated the Forbes Best College rankings, and authored ten books and monographs, including Going Broke By Degree (2004), Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America (2019), and Let Colleges Fail: The Promise of Creative Destruction in Higher Education (forthcoming this April). He has authored over 20 articles in the Wall Street Journal, and numerous other media outlets, appeared on a PBS Prime Time debate on higher education, and on numerous radio, TV shows and podcasts. He even once appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno! A Distinguished Professor of Economics Emeritus at Ohio University, he is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute, author of literally hundreds of scholarly studies in economic history, labor economics, public finance, etc. He has long influenced public policy. He once drank vodka with Putin in the Kremlin, whiskey with Netanyahu, coffee with Margaret Thatcher, and wine with George W. Bush, all in the pursuit of insights into the human condition.