Bradley A. Hansen
Department of Economics
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA
Phone: 540 654 1484
email: bhansen@umw.edu

Education

• Ph.D. Economics, Washington University, 1995
  Dissertation: "The Origins of Bankruptcy Law in the United States, 1789-1898"
• M.A. Economics, Washington University, 1990
• M.Sc. Economic History, The London School of Economics, 1985
• B.A., Liberal Arts, The Evergreen State College, 1984

Professional Experience

• Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, University of Mary Washington.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Mary Washington College, 1996-2002.
• Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, Mary Washington College, 1995-96.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Moorhead State University, 1994-95.
• Senior Teaching Fellow, Department of Economics, Washington University, 1993-4.
• Research Assistant for Dr. Douglass C. North, Department of Economics, Washington University, 1989-1992.
• Instructor, Department of Economics, The University of Nebraska at Kearney, 1987- 1988.
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Political Economy and Commerce Monmouth College, 1999 (on personal leave from Mary Washington College).

Books

• Institutions, Entrepreneurs and American Economic History: How the Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company Shaped the Laws of Business from 1822 to 1929 (Palgrave Macmillan 2009)
• The National Economy. (Greenwood 2006)

Journal Articles

• “Religion, Social Capital and Business Bankruptcy in the United States, 1921-1932” (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Business History (Special Issue on Putting Social Capital to Work) Fall 2008.
• “Path Dependence in the Development of U.S. Bankruptcy Law, 1880-1938” (with Mary Escehlbach Hansen) Journal of Institutional Economics August 2007.
• “New Evidence on Race Discrimination Under ‘Separate But Equal’,” (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Essays in Economic and Business History 24(2006).
• "An Economic Analysis of Adoption from Foster Care," (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Child Welfare (May/June 2006).
• "The Fable of the Allegory: The Wizard of Oz in Economics," The Journal of Economic Education 33(Summer 2002): 254-63.
• "Learning To Tax: The Political Economy of the Opium Trade in Iran, 1921-1941," Journal of Economic History 61(March 2001):95-113.
• "The People's Welfare and the Origins of Corporate Reorganization: The Wabash Receivership Reconsidered," Business History Review 74 (Autumn 2000): 377-405.
• "Commercial Associations and the Creation of a National Economy: The Demand for Federal Bankruptcy Law," Business History Review 72 (Spring 1998): 86-113.
• "The Political Economy of Bankruptcy: The Bankruptcy Act of 1898," Essays in Economic and Business History 15(1997):155-171.

Encyclopedia Entries

• "Debt," in Poverty in the United States: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, and Policy, edited by Gwendolyn Mink and Alice O'Connor (2004).
• "Bankruptcy Law," in EH.NET's Online Encyclopedia of Economic History  (Summer 2001).

Book Reviews

• State Banking in Early America: A New Economic History by Howard Bodenhorn Eastern Economic Journal 32(2006):189-90.
• Navigating Failure: Bankruptcy and Commercial Society in Antebellum America by Edward J. Balleisen . EH.NET.
• Debt's Dominion: A History of Bankruptcy Law in the America by David Skeel EH.NET.

Other Publications

• “An Overview of Federal Adoption Policy Legislation,” (with Mary Hansen) published on line by the Center for Adoption Research (http://www.centerforadoptionresearch.org/default.asp?action=article&ID=139&CategoryID=26&CategoryName=Federal).
• “Explaining Bankruptcy: An Analysis of State Bankruptcy Rates During the Great Depression,” (with Mary Hansen) The Newsletter of the Cliometric Society (Summer/Fall 2004).

Work in Progress

• Explaining Bankruptcy: An Analysis of State Bankruptcy Rates During the Great Depression (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen).
• Legal Rules and Bankruptcy Rates: Evidence From the States (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen).
• Understanding Bankruptcy Law: the Creditors' Bargain in Historical Perspective.
• The Golden Age of Flexible Wages in the Old Dominion.
• Don’t Put the Cart Before the Horse: Teaching the Economic Approach to Empirical Research (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen).
• Institutional Entrepreneurship.
• The Glorious Revolution and the Political Economy of Violence (with Shawn Humphrey)
  

Grants and Awards

• Grant from the Sunshine Lady Foundation to fund the course Economics of Philanthropy and the Non-Profit Sector. The grant provides $10,000 to be distributed by students in the class. The initial grant was for Fall 2005, but has been extended for 2006-2008. (proposal was coauthored with Robert Rycroft)

• Newcomen-Harvard Special Award from Harvard Business School and the Newcomen Society for "The People's Welfare and the Origins of Corporate Reorganization: The Wabash Receivership Reconsidered," Business History Review Autumn 2000.

• Arthur H. Cole Grant from the Economic History Association, for the project "A New Deal for Bankruptcy Law: The Political Economy of the Chandler Act." 2001-2002.
• Faculty Development Grant, Mary Washington College, for the project "Understanding Bankruptcy Law: Too Many Models, Too Little History." 2000-2001.
• NEH Summer Seminar Grant to participate in "The Industrial Revolution in Comparative Perspective" in Munich, Germany, 1997.
• Faculty Development Grant, Mary Washington College, for the project "The Gender Gap in Black and White: Teaching Salaries in Virginia, 1880-1920" 1997-1998.
• Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, Washington University, 1992-1993.
• University Fellowship, Washington University, 1988-1989.

Conference Presentations

• Legal Rules and Bankruptcy Rates: Evidence From the States (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Eastern Economic Association, February 2007.
• Legal Rules and Bankruptcy Rates: Evidence From the States (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting, November 2006.
• Explaining Bankruptcy: An Analysis of State Bankruptcy Rates During the Great Depression (with Mary Eschelbach Hansen) Allied Social Sciences Association January 2005.
• The Demand for Adoption: The Case of Children in Foster Care with Mary Eschelbach Hansen, Eastern Economic Association Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., 2004.
• "The Transformation of Bankruptcy in the United States," Policy History Conference, St. Louis MO, 2002; and Conference on the Political Economy of Financial Markets, Princeton University, 2003.
• "The Fable of the Allegory: The Wizard of Oz in Economics," presented at the meeting of the Eastern Economic Association March 2001.
• "Race and Returns to Human Capital: Teaching Salaries in Virginia, 1906," presented at the meeting of the Virginia Social Sciences Association March 2000.
• "The Public Interest Origins of Corporate Reorganization: The Wabash Receivership Reconsidered" presented at the Meeting of the Economic and Business Historical Society 1999.
• "The Golden Age of Flexible Wages in the Old Dominion" presented at the annual meeting of the Allied Social Sciences Association, 1997.
• "The Political Economy of Bankruptcy: The Bankruptcy Act of 1898," presented at the meeting of the Economic and Business Historical Society, 1996.
• "The Political Economy of Economic Legislation in the Late Nineteenth Century" presented at the meeting of the Midwest Economic Association, 1995.

Courses Taught

· Principles of Microeconomics

· Principles of Macroeconomics

· American Economic History

· Intermediate Microeconomics

· Intermediate Macroeconomics (at Monmouth College)

· History of Economic Thought (at Washington University)

· Introduction to Economic Analysis

· Economic Development

· Comparative Economic Systems

· Law and Economics

· Industrial Organization

· Government and Business

College Service

· Chair, Department of Economics, 2002-

· Faculty Senator 2000-2003, 2004-05

· Faculty Organization Committee

· Economics Department Outcomes Assessment Coordinator

· Executive in Residence Committee

· Faculty Adviser to Pi Gamma Mu