Edward J. Lopez is Professor of Economics, BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism, and Director of the Moral Foundations of Capitalism Programs at Western Carolina University. He previously taught law & economics at San Jose State University. He is Executive Director and Past President of the Public Choice Society.Edward has worked as a staff economist in the U.S. Congress, as manager of policymaker education at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, and as economics program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies. In 2007-08 he was a Resident Scholar at Liberty Fund, and in 2010 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy & Policy Center. In 2015 he founded the Center for the Study of Free Enterprise at WCU, which he directed until 2022.Edward's research focuses on the economics of ideas, entrepreneurship, and politics. His first book, The Pursuit of Justice: Law and Economics of Legal Institutions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), uses public choice economics to analyze beneficial reforms in civil and criminal law. His second book, Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (Stanford University Press, 2013, co-authored with Wayne A. Leighton) offers a framework for understanding political change.Edward is a frequent speaker on college campuses in the United States and abroad. He also speaks before business associations, academic conferences, and civic groups.Specific specialties:- Economics: public choice theory, political economy of ideas and interests, copyright, morality of capitalism;- Politics: U.S. fiscal policy, political change, congressional voting, party politics, eminent domain, term limits, campaign finance- Other: fashion, entrepreneurship, design copying