Thomas W. Hazlett

Thomas W. Hazlett is the Hugh H. Macaulay Endowed Professor of Economics in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University, where he directs the Information Economy Project, and an academic affiliate of the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE). He is also founder and managing director of Arlington Economics LLC and a founding partner of New Airwaves LLC.

His research applies law & economics and public-choice analysis to communications and technology policy, with particular emphasis on telecommunications, media, wireless spectrum allocation, and internet regulation.

At Clemson University, Hazlett leads the Information Economy Project and teaches courses on regulation and information markets. He previously served as professor of law & economics at George Mason University and earlier held faculty appointments at the University of California, Davis. He has also taught as visiting faculty at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Beyond academia, Hazlett has held several policy and research positions. He served as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Earlier, he served as chief economist of the Federal Communications Commission.

Hazlett is the author or co-author of several books, including “The Political Spectrum: The Tumultuous Liberation of Wireless Technology, from Herbert Hoover to the Smartphone,” “Public Policy Toward Cable Television: The Economics of Rate Controls” (with Matthew Spitzer), and “Telecommunications Meltdown: Did American Communications Policy Fail?” (with Eli Noam, Lawrence Lessig, and Richard Epstein).

He has received honors including the Citicorp/Wriston Fellowship at the Manhattan Institute and an Outstanding Lecturer award from the University of California, Davis managerial-economics program.

Hazlett earned a Ph.D. in economics and a bachelor’s from the University of California, Los Angeles.