Isaac DiIanni—George Mason University Department of Economics
Northeastern State University
Department of Accounting and Finance

Isaac DiIanni
Business and Technology Building, Room 115
:: diianni@nsuok.edu

I am currently Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Accounting and Finance at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  I have a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. My areas of interest include Law and Economics, Public Economics, and Computational Agent-based Modeling.

::Dissertation: An Economic Analysis of Judicial Doctrine (Abstract)
::Advisor: Richard Wagner (rwagner@gmu.edu)
::Job Paper: The Role of Competition in the Market for Adjudication
::Files: Teaching Evaluations (Spring 06, Fall 06); Curriculum Vitae
::Email: isaac.diianni@uah.edu

::Working Papers:

::Why the Judiciary Acts as an Administrative Agency: The Impact of Institutional Structure on Judicial Doctrine
I conduct an analysis of the American legal system primarily using two tools of economics: agency theory and the concept of bureaucratic free enterprise. I argue that despite significant differences at the level of nominal appearance, there is a fundamental similarity between federal administrative agencies and the federal judiciary.

::Evolution and Inefficiency: A Computational Model of Common Law Evolution
This paper focuses on the behavior of litigants. I use an agent-based computational model to show that even without rent-seeking, changes in litigant behavior in response to a greater interest in precedent can interfere with the evolution of common law precedent towards efficient rules.

 

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Course Information

Principles of Macroeconomics
The lectures and readings in this course are designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of macroeconomic theory. The central focus of the course is on understanding the process of price formation in a free exchange economy. Market institutions such as the price system, the monetary system, and financial intermediaries are explored for their role in the coordination of economic activity. Finally, the basic principles will be applied to an understanding of economic issues such as inflation, unemployment, national income, economic growth, and the business cycle.
::Syllabus (PDF Format)
::Course Resources

Principles of Microeconomics
The lectures and readings in this course are designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of microeconomic theory. The central focus of the course is on understanding the process of price formation in a free exchange economy. Market institutions such as the firm, advertising, profit/loss mechanism, speculation, and property rights are explored for their role in the coordination of economic activity.
::Syllabus (PDF Format)
::Course Resources

Money and Banking
This course is designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of economic theory as it applies to monetary and banking institutions.  It will focus on the economic dynamics (information and transaction costs) that have propelled the historical evolution of money, credit, and financial intermediation from the ancient world to the present.  Related financial institutions such as bond, stock, and insurance markets are also explored. In addition, the course will cover the structure of the Federal Reserve System, bank regulation, and the mechanics of the international monetary framework.
::Syllabus (PDF Format)
::Course resources (Password required)

Economic Problems and Public Policies
This course is designed to familiarize students with the application of economic theory to a wide variety of public policy issues.  Price controls, competition policy, labor policy, consumer protection legislation, and environmental regulation will all be explored.  In addition, the nature of the state and its relationship to individual citizens will be examined from a constitutional perspective.
::Syllabus (PDF Format)
::Course resources (Password required)

 

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Recommended Videos

Milton Friedman Interview
20/20 Stupid in America:  How We Cheat Our Kids

 

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Recommended Readings

The pursuit of economic understanding requires more than just class work. Here are texts that I recommend to those who seek to understand the intellectual foundation of the free market and the moral basis for capitalism.
::Browse the list

 

::NSU College of Business and Technology

Scholarship

::Robert Axtell
::Bruce L. Benson
::Peter Boettke
::Donald J. Boudreaux
::James M. Buchanan

::Bryan Caplan
::Steven J. Eagle
::Richard Epstein
::Thomas C. Leonard
::Charles K. Rowley
::Thomas Rustici
::Vernon Smith
::Gordon Tullock
::W. Kip Viscusi
::Richard E. Wagner
::Walter Williams
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吴华
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Zhaofeng Xue (薛兆丰)
::Todd J. Zywicki

Policy & Economics Links

::Ayn Rand Institute
::Cato Institute
::Center for the Advancement of Capitalism
::Center for the Study of Public Choice

::Competitive Enterprise Institute
::Foundation for Economic Education
::Fund for American Studies
::Institute on Political Journalism
::Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science
::Iowa Electronic Markets
::James M. Buchanan Center for Political Economy
::Library of Economics and Liberty
::The Locke Institute

::Mercatus Center
::Political Economy Research Center
::Public Choice Foundation

Other Links

::Pictures of my dog Wendy
::Cesar Millan
::
Harold McGee
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Sherlock Holmes



Copyright (c) 2008 Isaac DiIanni. All Rights Reserved