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Taylor, Jason

Professor

FACULTY

Biography

Taylor's research focuses upon 20th century economic history in the United States, particularly the Great Depression, and how this historical episode relates to cartel, labor, and public choice theory. Journals in which his work has appeared include: The Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic History, Business History, Public Choice, Economica, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Industrial Economics, Explorations in Economic History, and Enterprise and Society, amongst others. He has published editorials in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USAToday, Real Clear Politics, the Washington Examiner, and the Detroit News, has appeared on NPR's "Planet Money" and "Morning Edition," and has testified the findings of his research before US Congress and presented them to the European Union's Directorate-General for Competition group.

His current work focuses on the economics of beer. Taylor specifically examines the economic impact re-legalization played in the early stages of the economic recovery from the Great Depression in 1933, the entrepreneurial response to re-legalization, how the rehabilitation of long defunct breweries was financed upon the return of legal beer, what factors influenced state's decisions to impose alcohol prohibitions between 1850 and 1920 (as well as the factors that contributed to the staggered unwinding of those state prohibitions after 1933), the heterogeneity of state level alcohol restrictions after Prohibition's end, and the long-term roles played by 3.2 beer in the US legal scene.

More about Jason Taylor

Books

  • The Brew Deal: How Beer Helped Battle the Great Depression. Palgrave Macmillan (2024).
  • Deconstructing the Monolith: The Microeconomics of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. University of Chicago Press (2019).

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles (2022-2025)

  • “Better than No Beer at All: Legal Roles for 3.2 Beer in the Post-Prohibition Era United States.” (with Eline Poelmans) Forthcoming in Enterprise and Society.
  • “Beers in Stock: Financing Legal Beer’s Return at the Nadir of the Great Depression.” (with Abdul-Samed Adamu Bukari and Robert Wright) Business History, published online March 2025.
  • “Hello, I’m 1930s America and I have a Recovery Problem: A Review of George Selgin’s False Dawn.” Econ Journal Watch 22, (March 2025): 178-186.
  • “The Entrepreneurial Response to Beer Legalization in 1933 Prior to the End of Prohibition.” (with Eline Poelmans and Evan Hayne) Business History 66, No. 7 (2024): 1833-1861.
  • “An Industry-Level Panel Analysis of Vedder and Gallaway’s Adjusted Real Wage Model in the Interwar Era.” (with Wenjun Xue). Essays in Economic and Business History 42, No. 2 (2024): 133-152
  • “The Geography of Brewery Entry after Beer Relegalization in Spring 1933.” Geography of Beer: Policies, Propaganda, and Place, edited by Mark W. Patterson, Nancy Hoalst-Pullen, Heidelberg: Springer Dordrecht (2023): 113-127.
  • “Factors Influencing the Timing and Type of State-Level Alcohol Prohibitions Prior to 1920.” (with John Dove, Ranjit Dighe, and Eline Poelmans) Public Choice 192 (2022): 201–226.
  • “Estimates of employment gains attributable to beer legalization in spring 1933.” (with Eline Poelmans, Samuel Raisanen, and Andrew C. Holt) Explorations in Economic History 84 (2022): 101427
  • “Adjusting the Lights: Prohibition Was Not Flipped On and Off like a Switch.” (with Eline Poelmans) Essays in Economic and Business History 40 (2022): 21-43.
  • Jerry and Felicia Campbell Endowed Professorship in Central Michigan University’s College of Business, 2022 – present
  • Hazelton Faculty Excellence Award (CMU College of Business), 2021
  • The President’s Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, CMU, 2020
  • The CMU College of Business Administration 2020 Research Award
  • Editor-In-Chief, Essays in Economic and Business History, 2012 – 2018
  • Honors Professor of the Year, Central Michigan University, 2008
  • Ph.D., University of Georgia
  • B.S., Ohio University​