Scholars
Senior Scholar James I. Sturgeon is professor of economics, emeritus, Missouri–Kansas City. His current research centers on institutional economic theory and Thorstein Veblen’s contributions to distribution and production theory as an alternative to marginal productivity theory. He is currently writing a textbook on institutional economics.
His previous research in institutional economics includes Alternative Streams in Economic Analysis with W. Robert Brazelton and Ivan Weinel (Kendall‑Hunt, 1991), and contributions to Institutional Analysis and Praxis (Springer, 2009) and Policy Implications of Recent Advances in Evolutionary and Institutional Economics (Routledge, 2018). His work in industrial organization includes Which Way Forward? Alternative Paths for Generating Electricity in America’s Heartland (with Stephanie Kelton and Brandon Richman), PURPA Discussion Series: Load Management, Master Metering, Billing, and Information to Customers (US Department of Energy), A Consumer’s Guide to the Economics of Electric Utility Rate Making (State of Illinois and US Department of Energy), The Adverse Economic Impact from Repeal of the Prevailing Wage Law in Missouri (Council for Promoting American Business). He has published in journals including the Journal of Economic Issues, International Journal of Socio-Economics, and the Review of Institutional Thought.
Sturgeon taught at the University of Missouri–Kansas City from 1977–2020; he is an honorary fellow at Bremen University, Germany and was staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission during 1975–77. He has been a visiting lecturer at University of Rome (La Sapienza) and Poznan University, Poland, among others. He holds a BA from Kansas State Teachers College, MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a student of Nelson Peach.
His previous research in institutional economics includes Alternative Streams in Economic Analysis with W. Robert Brazelton and Ivan Weinel (Kendall‑Hunt, 1991), and contributions to Institutional Analysis and Praxis (Springer, 2009) and Policy Implications of Recent Advances in Evolutionary and Institutional Economics (Routledge, 2018). His work in industrial organization includes Which Way Forward? Alternative Paths for Generating Electricity in America’s Heartland (with Stephanie Kelton and Brandon Richman), PURPA Discussion Series: Load Management, Master Metering, Billing, and Information to Customers (US Department of Energy), A Consumer’s Guide to the Economics of Electric Utility Rate Making (State of Illinois and US Department of Energy), The Adverse Economic Impact from Repeal of the Prevailing Wage Law in Missouri (Council for Promoting American Business). He has published in journals including the Journal of Economic Issues, International Journal of Socio-Economics, and the Review of Institutional Thought.
Sturgeon taught at the University of Missouri–Kansas City from 1977–2020; he is an honorary fellow at Bremen University, Germany and was staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission during 1975–77. He has been a visiting lecturer at University of Rome (La Sapienza) and Poznan University, Poland, among others. He holds a BA from Kansas State Teachers College, MA from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma, where he was a student of Nelson Peach.
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