Dr. Abigail Hall Blanco earned her PhD in Economics degree in 2015 and her master's degree in economics from George Mason in 2013. She earned her bachelor's degree in economics and business administration from Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky in 2011.
Her work focuses on topics surrounding the U.S. military and national defense. She has worked on issues including domestic police militarization, arm sales, weapons as foreign aid, imperialism, and whistleblowers. Her dissertation research centered on the political economy of unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.
Blanco’s most recent book project, Tyranny Comes Home: The Domestic Fate of U.S. Militarism, is coauthored with Mason alumni and Professor Christopher Coyne. This book, set to release in spring of 2018, examines how foreign interventions conducted by the U.S. government abroad have impacted domestic economic, political and social institutions and how these changes have negatively impacted U.S. citizens. Blanco’s next co-authored book project explores the economics of propaganda and examines the government’s dissemination of information domestically in the post-9/11 era.
She is a research fellow with the Independent Institute in Oakland, CA and contributes regularly to their blog, The Beacon. Her popular press pieces have been featured in outlets such as Newsweek, The Hill, The Daily Caller, The American Thinker, Forbes, US News and World Report, Huffington Post and the nationally-syndicated McClatchy-Tribune News Service. Blanco has appeared on Fox Business and PBS.
Dr. Blanco has co-authored and published academic papers in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including; Public Choice, Defence and Peace Economics, Advances in Austrian Economics, Review of Austrian Economics, The Independent Review, Atlantic Economic Review, The Journal of Private Enterprise, Peace Review, and Economics Affairs, as well as other peer-reviewed journals. She has published more than 20 journal articles and book chapters and has been featured as a guest lecturer on Marginal Revolution University. She has presented her work at a variety of venues including the Southern Economic Association and Eastern Economic Association Conferences, the Association of Private Enterprise Education Conference, and the University of Oregon School Of Law.
Dr. Blanco credits her academic achievements to the mentorship of the economics faculties at George Mason University and Bellarmine University. Their support and guidance over her scholastic journey has worked to enhance her critical thinking skills, her writing, and her ability to convey her work to others. They have worked to guide her, shape her long-term goals, and have provided her clear examples of the type of scholar and teacher she seeks to become.