Primary Research Areas: Public Economics, Political Economy, Economics of Education

Robert Ainsworth received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2020 and joined the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor of Economics in the same year. His research examines pressing issues in public economics, political economy, and the economics of education. His current research examines how students make schooling decisions, the conditions under which school competition enhances performance, the measurement and effects of gerrymandering, and the effects of local taxes on neighborhood quality and residential location decisions. Professor Ainsworth teaches courses in public economics and econometrics.

Primary Research Area: Antitrust

Roger Blair received his Ph.D. in Economics from Michigan State University in 1968. He is now the Huber Hurst Professor of Business and Legal Studies. Professor Blair joined Florida's faculty in 1970 following two years of military service. He has been a Visiting Scholar-in-Residence at Washington University, and a Visiting Professor at the University of California - Berkeley and at the University of Hawaii. Professor Blair's research focuses on antitrust economics. He has more than 170 professional publications, including books entitled Law and Economics of Vertical Integration and Control, Antitrust Economics; Monopsony: Antitrust Law and Economics; The Economics of Franchising; and Intellectual Property: Legal and Economic Dimensions of Rights and Rewards. Professor Blair currently serves as the Economics Editor of The Antitrust Bulletin.

Primary Research Areas: Macroeconomics, Macro-Finance, Monetary Economics, Urban Economics

Min Fang received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester in 2021. He joined the Economics Department at the University of Florida in 2023. Previously, he served as an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, and as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Geneva and the University of Lausanne. Much of his research examines the macroeconomic effects of monetary policy and household- and firm-level frictions, including financial frictions and spatial frictions. His research also examines the design of policies to promote industry innovation.

Primary Research Areas: Industrial Organization, International Trade and Development

Gunnar Heins received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2016 and joined the Economics Department of the University of Florida in the same year. His research focuses on international economics, trade policy, and industrial organization. Dr. Heins' current work studies the impact of globalization on inequality and the cost of living, how import competition affected recent U.S. elections, and the evolution of new markets. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on international economics, data analysis, and empirical analysis.

Primary Research Areas: Industrial Organization, Regulation Policy

Ignacia Mercadal joined the University of Florida in 2021 as an Assistant Professor. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 2016. Professor Mercadal's research studies questions regarding competition and regulation in energy markets, with a focus on electricity markets. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on data analysis and econometrics.

Primary Research Areas: Education Policy, Regulation

Michelle Phillips received her Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2012 and is a Lecturer in the Department of Economics. She has previously worked as an Economist at the Public Utility Research Center and served as a consultant to the World Bank. Her research focuses on public policy issues in the infrastructure and education sectors. Dr. Phillips' research includes studies of benchmarking in the water sector, energy efficiency in the electricity sector, state government policies regarding textbook adoption in schools, and voting behavior in teachers' unions. Dr. Phillips has helped to develop the Body of Knowledge on Infrastructure Regulation, focusing on the provision of infrastructure services in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Primary Research Area: Education Policy

Richard Romano received his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1982, and joined the Florida faculty that year. He was appointed Gerald L. Gunter Professor of Economics in 1997 and currently holds a University of Florida Research Foundation Professorship. He has also served as a Visiting Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University and at the University of British Columbia. Professor Romano has published numerous articles on a variety of public policy issues, including government policy toward research and development, and antitrust policy. His current research is focused on education policy, including exploration of voucher and school-choice policies and alternative approaches to school finance. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.

Primary Research Areas: Public economics, Health economics

Jintaek Song received his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 2023. He joined the University of Florida as an Assistant Professor in 2025, following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. His research focuses on public economics and health economics, with current projects examining the effects and design of government welfare programs (such as SNAP and public transit subsidies) and insurance policies (such as prior authorization requirements in Medicare).