Robert E. Wright

Not to be confused with the Scottish economist Robert E. Wright, University of Strathclyde.

Robert E. Wright
Born	Robert Eric Wright (1969-01-01) January 1, 1969 Rochester, N.Y.
Nationality	American
Institution	Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Field	Economic history of America
Alma mater	University at Buffalo

Robert Eric Wright (born January 1, 1969 in Rochester, N.Y.) is a business, economic, financial, and monetary historian and the inaugural Rudy and Marilyn Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is also a research economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Education

After graduating from Fairport High School in 1987, Wright took degrees in History from Buffalo State College, where he was a member of the All-College Honors Program, and the University at Buffalo (Ph.D., 1997).

Research

Since 2001, he has authored, co-authored, edited, or co-edited twenty books on topics including banks and banking, book publishing, construction, corporations, corporate genealogy, and corporate governance, economic indicators, entrepreneurship, government bailouts, insurance, money and monetary policy, public debts, public policies, and securities markets.

Wright's writings include a book on the role the real estate mortgage crisis of the 1760s played in the American Revolution.

Wright is a board member of Historians Against Slavery, an NGO. He edits its books series with Cambridge University Press, "Slaveries Since Emancipation," and serves on HAS's public speakers bureau. He is also associated with the Museum of American Finance.

Wright taught at New York University’s Stern School of Business from 2003 until 2009. Before that, Wright taught economics at the University of Virginia, where he worked with Virginia economist Ron Michener in a dispute against Grubb, an economist at the University of Delaware, over the nature of colonial and early U.S. money and monetary systems.

Classroom Criticisms

Regardless of Wright's academic pedigree, his classroom presence has been less than beneficial for students. At his present post, Augustana University, students who have taken classes with Wright have reportedly been mistreated by the professor. On the website "ratemyprofessors.com" students have reviewed Dr. Wright's teaching ability as "poor." According to the website, one such student said of Wright, "he is also openly disrespectful to students that disagree with him. Overall, I gained absolutely nothing by attending his class."^[15] Another student reviewed Wright, "Dr. Wright will openly mock you if you disagree with him."^[16]

External links

• Robert E. Wright, National Bureau of Economic Research