Samuel R. Staley

Director, DeVoe L. Moore Center, College of Social Sciences, Florida State University

Samuel R. Staley

Director, DeVoe L. Moore Center, College of Social Sciences, Florida State University

Samuel R. Staley is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and Director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University, where he teaches courses on urban policy and social entrepreneurship. His policy expertise focuses primarily on housing, growth management, land use, transportation, tax policy, and economic development. Dr. Staley earned a B.A. in economics with a public policy concentration from Colby College, an M.S. in social and applied economics from Wright State University, and a Ph.D. in public administration with concentrations in urban planning and public finance from Ohio State University. He was a Capitaf Scholar in Residence for the Free to Choose Network in 2021 and 2022.

The author of 13 books, Sam’s recent nonfiction work includes The Beatles and Economics: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and the Making of a Cultural Revolution (Routledge, 2020) and Contemporary Film and Economics (Routledge 2018). Nicolai Foss called his book on the Beatles “unique… a sustained, detailed analysis of a team of cultural entrepreneurs…. The book is well written and… highly accessible.” His book on contemporary film has been called a “subversively educational” analysis of economic content in more than fifty recent films, many of which have been reviewed on the Independent Institute’s website. Most recently, he co-authored (with Zongzhi Li and Adrian Moore) Megacity Mobility: Integrated Urban Transportation Development and Management (CRC Press, 2022), a holistic look at urban transportation planning and implementation in large cities.

As an academic researcher, Sam’s research and policy analysis have appeared in leading professional publications, including the Journal of the American Planning Association, Transportation Research Part A, the Journal of Transportation Engineering, Housing Policy Debate, the Journal of Urban Planning and Development, Town Planning Review, the Journal of Economics Teaching, the Review of Austrian Economics and others.

His commentary has appeared in scores of major news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Review, CNN.com.

An accomplished author of six novels, Sam’s fiction includes the cross-genre pirate novels The Pirate of Panther Bay series (Southern Yellow Pine Publishing) as well as an award-winning libertarian “comic thriller,” St. Nic Inc., that re-imagines the Santa Claus myth in a reality-based adventure of international intrigue. His novels have reached the finals or won their category in historical fiction, young adult fiction, new adult fiction, coming of age/romance, women’s fiction, and others.

Dr. Staley has been active in the free-market think tank movement for nearly 30 years, starting his professional career at the Cato Institute and subsequently co-founding the Buckeye Institute in 1989. Active in his community, he has served on the boards of more than a dozen nonprofit organizations and as a citizen policymaker on local government boards.

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