Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom

📰New Op-Ed📰

Bridwell Institute Director Robert Lawson and Bob Borens have a new piece in RealClearMarkets:

"Trump Must Condition Iran Aid to Economic Freedom"

If the United States and its allies commit hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuilding Iran, how can policymakers ensure that aid benefits ordinary Iranians rather than political elites?

Lawson and Borens argue that meaningful economic reform—including stronger property rights, sound money, freer trade, and reduced regulation—should be a prerequisite for any large-scale assistance package. Without economic freedom, aid risks enriching the regime while doing little to improve the lives of the Iranian people.

Trump Must Condition Iran Aid to Economic Freedom Included in the Iran “deal” is a provision that “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, fully agreed plan with at least $300 billion

📰New Op-Ed📰

Bridwell Institute Director Robert Lawson has a new op-ed in the Chicago Tribune:

"Elon Musk is a trillionaire — but the oligarchs of Congress wield more power"

As debates over wealth inequality continue, Lawson argues that Americans often overlook a more significant concentration of power: the federal government.

While Elon Musk's wealth has made headlines, Congress controls roughly $7 trillion in annual spending and exercises broad authority over economic and personal decisions affecting millions of Americans.

If we're concerned about concentrations of wealth and power, are we looking in the right place?

Robert Lawson: Elon Musk is a trillionaire — but the oligarchs of Congress wield more power The most profound economic control lies not in the hands of a few rich Americans such as Elon Musk, but rather with Congress.

The Financial Times 2026 FT-Nikkei Investing in America ranking of the top U.S. cities for international business was recently published. It again uses the Bridwell Institute’s Dean Stansel’s Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index in producing that ranking.

The latest version of Stansel’s Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index is here:https://www.smu.edu/-/media/site/cox/centersandinstitutes/bridwellinstitute/media/bridwell-institutes-metro-area-economic-freedom-index-final-webnov23.pdf
The latest data set is here: https://dean-stansel-cy6x.squarespace.com/s/MEFI-2022-dataset-for-researchers-1-5-23.xlsx
An academic journal version is available here: https://jrap.scholasticahq.com/article/8147-economic-freedom-in-u-s-metropolitan-areas

How we compiled the 2026 FT-Nikkei Investing in America rankings Methodology behind the latest edition of the rankings that reveal the top US cities for international business

🚨New Research Publication🚨

Bridwell Institute's Director Robert Lawson and Justin Callais have recently published a new article in the Southern Economic Journal:

"Doing Business v. Business Ready: A Preliminary Comparison"

The paper examines the World Bank's new Business Ready (B-READY) project and compares it to the widely used Doing Business dataset that it was designed to replace.

Their findings suggest that while B-READY is likely to become a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers, important methodological differences mean it is not a seamless replacement for Doing Business. The study highlights key changes in how business regulations and economic environments are measured around the world.

Doing Business v. Business Ready: A Preliminary Comparison The World Bank's Doing Business (DB) project had measured the regulatory burden facing private businesses around the world since 2004. After the cancellation of the DB project in 2021, the World Bank...

🚨New Research Publication🚨

Bridwell Institute's Research Associate Professor Ryan H. Murphy and Colin O'Reilly have published a new article in the Journal of Comparative Economics:

"Sequencing Institutional Development: The Modernization Hypothesis Reconsidered"

The paper revisits one of the central questions in political economy: What comes first in the development process—state capacity, markets, or democracy?

Using data from 99 countries over several decades, Murphy and O'Reilly find that improvements in state capacity tend to precede increases in economic freedom. By contrast, they find relatively little evidence that either strong states or market institutions are necessary prerequisites for democratization.

www.sciencedirect.com

According to Meg Tuszynski, "Rules shape incentives. Incentives shape behavior. And behavior shapes outcomes...If policymakers want to understand inequality, they should begin by evaluating rules that negatively impact economic freedom."
For more, see Meg's op-ed in the Dallas Morning News.

What New York can learn from Texas about inequality Opportunity cannot be mandated. It emerges from a system that empowers people.

Sriparna Ghosh and our Dean Stansel recently had their paper, “Growth-Enhancing Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship at the Local Level,” published in the Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy. Using data for U.S. metro areas, they found a positive relationship between economic freedom and several measures of entrepreneurial activity.

Growth-Enhancing Economic Policy and Entrepreneurship at the Local Level | Published in Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy By Sriparna Ghosh, Dean Stansel. Paper applies LASSO regression to reweight Metropolitan Area Economic Freedom Index, identifying taxation and labor flexibility as strongest predictors of regional entrepreneurship, improving predictive accuracy but not capturing causal interactions.

Our Dean Stansel was quoted in the Dallas Morning News on the state of the Dallas “low-hire, low-fire” economy.
“Still, the diversity and strong fundamentals — including the relative affordability — of the North Texas economy means the region is relatively well-positioned to weather it, said Dean Stansel, a professor at SMU’s Bridwell Institute for Economic Freedom. “Compared to other large metro areas, like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco — the costs are just a lot higher there for businesses, and a lot of them have made the choice to leave,” he said. “And one of the places they’re coming is here.” ”

Welcome to the 'low-hire, low-fire' economy? D-FW layoffs dipped in early 2026, but job gains have been elusive North Texas employers issued fewer layoffs in the first quarter of 2026 than any quarter since the summer of 2024.

Join us in congratulating our Robert Lawson on his appointment as President of the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) at its 50th Annual Meeting. Notably, he is the only individual in APEE’s history to serve as President twice.

Following a highly engaging program (organized during his tenure as Vice President) featuring sessions on APEE’s history and reflections on the 250th anniversary of economic freedom, Dr. Lawson delivered his presidential address. In it, he emphasized the importance of APEE’s distinctive culture, one that is both welcoming and collegial, while encouraging continued entrepreneurial efforts to engage both current and prospective members.

At our recent event, Robert Lawson highlighted Adam Smith's powerful principle for [free] trade: division of labor. By lowering barriers and allowing goods, capital, and ideas to flow, societies can expand opportunity, lower costs, and increase overall wealth.

After 250 years, these principles remain as relevant as ever, especially as policymakers continue to grapple with the real-world impacts of trade restrictions and global economic change.