The director of the Center for Free Enterprise at West Virginia University has been recognized with an award for scholarly accomplishments by the Association of Private Enterprise Education.

Dr. Joshua Hall, who is also an associate professor of economics at WVU’s College of Business and Economics, was recently presented with the APEE Distinguished Scholar Award. The award is presented each year to a member of APEE who has, over a sustained period of years, made a significant contribution to the research and literature of free market economics.

“Any award like this is really defined by its previous recipients,” Hall said. “Last year’s recipient was Dr. Jerry Jordan, who served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from 1992-2003. Seeing people of that stature made me realize what a signature award this is. APEE is a very international and inter-disciplinary organization.”

Hall, who earned a doctorate in economics from the College of Business and Economics, said the APEE is the foremost organization of individuals from across business and social science who are interested in teaching about the free enterprise system.

“This award is a testament not only to the training I received as a graduate student here at B&E, but also to the research environment that currently exists for faculty here,” said Hall.

Hall’s areas of interest include applied microeconomics, with an emphasis on economic freedom, state and local public finance and entrepreneurship. In addition to being the author of more than 50 articles in journals such as Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Public Administration, Research, and Theory, Contemporary Economic Policy and Southern Economic Journal, he is co-author of the widely-cited Economic Freedom of the World annual report.