Robert D. Tollison (1942–2016) was the J. Wilson Newman Professor of Economics and BB&T Senior Fellow at Clemson University, Research Fellow and Member of the Board of Advisors at the Independent Institute, and former Editor of Public Choice. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia, and he was formerly Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Economics, University of Alabama; Assistant Professor of Economics, Cornell University; Senior Staff Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers; Professor of Economics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Acting Director of the Office of Policy Planning and Director of the Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission; Abney Professor of Economics, Clemson University; Duncan Black Professor of Economics, George Mason University; Director, Center for Study of Public Choice; Visiting Professor, University of Miami Law School; Visiting Professor of Economics, Arizona State University; Visiting Professor of Policy Sciences, Florida State University; Bradley Visiting Professor of Economics, Clemson University; and Kirby Distinguished Visiting Professor, Private Enterprise Research Center, Texas A&M University.
Professor Tollison was President, Southern Economic Association; President, Public Choice Society; member of the Board of Directors, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Progress and Freedom Foundation, and Center for Study of Public Choice Foundation; member of the Economic Policy Committee, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Special Director, Japanese Public Choice Society; and Associate Economics Editor, Public Policy. He was the recipient of Teaching Excellence Award, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Distinguished Faculty Award, George Mason University; Virginia Social Science Association Scholar Award in Economics; Researcher of the Year, School of Business, University of Mississippi; and Best Paper of the Year, School of Business, University of Mississippi.
A contributor to more than one hundred scholarly volumes, he is the author of more than 300 scholarly articles and reviews and his authored books include Balanced Budgets, Fiscal Responsibility, and the Constitution (with R. Wagner); Politicians, Legislation, and the Economy: An Inquiry into the Interest-Group Theory of Government (with R. McCormick); Mercantilism as a Rent-Seeking Society (with R. Ekelund); Smoking and the State (with R. Wagner); Concentration and Competition: The Economics of the Carbonated Soft Drink Industry (with D. Kaplan and R. Higgins); The National Collegiate Athletic Association: A Study in Cartel Behavior (with A. Fleisher and B. Goff); Sacred Trust: The Medieval Church as an Economic Firm (with R. Ekelund, R. Hebert, G. Anderson, and A. Davis); Politicized Economies: Monarchy, Monopolies, and Mercantilism (with R. Ekelund); and The Marketplace of Christianity (with R. Ekelund and R. Hebert). His edited books include Theory of Public Choice: Political Applications of Economics (edited with James M. Buchanan); The Economic Approach to Public Policy: Selected Readings (edited with R. Amacher and T. Willett); The Political Economy of Antitrust; Economics: Private Markets and Public Choice (with R. Ekelund); Microeconomics (with R. Ekelund); Macroeconomics: Private Markets and Public Choice (with R. Ekelund); Towards a Theory of the Rent-Seeking Society (edited with J. Buchanan and G. Tullock); Theory of Public Choice II (edited with J. Buchanan); Smoking and Society: Toward a Balanced Assessment; Deficits (edited with J. Buchanan and C. Rowley); Economics: Between Predictive Science and Moral Philosophy by James M. Buchanan (compiled and edited with V. Vanberg); Clearing the Air: Perspectives on Environmental Tobacco Smoke; The Political Economy of Rent Seeking (edited with C. Rowley and G. Tullock); Predicting Politics: Essays in Empirical Public Choice (edited with M. Crain); Sportometrics (edited with B. Goff); The Next Twenty-Five Years of Public Choice (edited with C. Rowley and F. Schneider); The Economic Analysis of Rent Seeking (edited with R. Congleton); The Collected Works of James M. Buchanan (compiled and edited with G. Brennan and H. Kliemt); Method and Morals in Constitutional Economics: Essays in Honor of James M. Buchanan (edited with G. Brennan and H. Kliemt); The Economics of Budget Deficits (edited with W. Shughart and C. Rowley); and Policy Challenges and Political Responses: Public Choice Perspectives on the Post-9/11World (edited with W. Shughart).
Professor Tollison testified before numerous federal and state legislative committees, commissions, and agencies, and his popular articles appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, Regulation, Nature.com, Economic Affairs, and Daily Report for Executives.
