John H. Beck, Ph.D

Professor of Economics

Much of John Beck's teaching, research and community service has focused on public finance, especially state and local government finance. He served on Washington State's Tax Structure Study Committee in 2001-2002. He currently is a member of the board...

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Contact Information

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., Michigan State University

B.A., Michigan State University

Curriculum Vitae

Courses Taught

ECON 200 - Economic Analysis

ECON 202 - Macroeconomics

ECON 325 - Public Finance

ECON 401 - Adam Smith and Karl Marx

ECON 402 - Currents in 20th Century Economics

Biography
Much of John Beck's teaching, research and community service has focused on public finance, especially state and local government finance. He served on Washington State's Tax Structure Study Committee in 2001-2002. He currently is a member of the board of the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation which promotes the ideas of Henry George, a nineteenth century reformer who advocated free trade and a tax on land values.

Publications in scholarly journals:

Beck, John H.; Donald D. Hackney; John Hackney: and Matthew Q. McPherson. (2014)  “Regional Differences in Chapter 13 Filings:  Southern Legal Culture or Religion?” Review of Social Economy, 72: 186-208.

Beck, John H.; and Kevin E. Henrickson. (2013) "The Effect of the Top Two Primary on the Number of Primary Candidates."  Social Science Quarterly, 94: 779-794.

Beck, John H. (2012) "Henry George and Immigration," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 71: 966-987.

Beck, John H. (2007) "The Pelagian Controversy:  An Economic Analysis," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 66: 681-696.

Beck, John H. (2005) "Distributive Justice and the Rules of the Corporation: Partial versus General Equilibrium Analysis," Business Ethics Quarterly, 15: 355-362.

Beck, John H.; Carl S. Bozman; and Daniel L. Friesner,  (2004) "Sales Taxes, Information and Public Opinion in Washington," Northwest Journal of Business and Economics, 1-18.

Beck, John H.; and Randall Bennett. (2003) "Taxation, License Fees and New Car Registrations," Public Finance Review, 31:  487-509.

Hickman, Kent; Hugh Hunter; John Byrd; John H. Beck; and Will Terpenin. (2001) "Life Cycle Investing, Holding Periods, and Risk." Journal of Portfolio Management, 27: 101-111.

Beck, John H. "Voting Cycles in Business Curriculum Reform, A Note" The American Economist, 41 (Spring 1997): 83-88.

Beck, John H. (1995) "Voting on Revenue and Spending Limits in Washington State,"  Western Tax Review 11: 58-72.

Beck, John H. (1994) "An Experimental Test of Preferences for the Distribution of Income," Eastern Economic Journal 20: 131-145.

Beck, John H. (1993) "Tax Abatement and Tax Rates in a System of Overlapping Revenue-Maximizing Governments," Regional Science and Urban Economics, 23: 645-665.

Beck, John H. (1992) "The Border Tax Problem in Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas of Washington," Western Tax Review 10: 15-35.

Beck, John H. (1990) "Measuring Government Performance:  Comment," National Tax Journal, 43: 217-218.

Beck, John H.; and Sally Conway Kilbane. (1990) "Professional Associations and the Free Rider Problem:  The Case of Optometry," Public Choice, 65: 181-187.

Beck, John H. (1989) "The Treatment of Marital Status under State Income Taxes," State and Local Government Review, 21: 66-73.

Beck, John H.; and Amar K. Parai. (1989) "The Incidence of Classified Property Taxes in a Three-Sector Model with an Imperfectly Mobile Population," Journal of Urban Economics, 25: 77-92.

Beck, John H.; and Nguyen T. Quan. (1987) "Public Education Expenditures and State Economic Growth:  Northeast and Sunbelt Regions," Southern Economic Journal, 54: 361-376.

Beck, John H. (1987) "User Charges as a Delegation Mechanism:  Comment," National Tax Journal, 40: 275-278.

Beck, John H. (1987) "The Marriage Penalty under the Ohio Income Tax," Ohio Economic Trends Review, 2: 2-7.

Beck, John H. (1984) "Nonmonotonic Demand for Municipal Services:  Variation among Communities," National Tax Journal, 37: 55-67.

Beck, John H. (1983) "Tax Competition, Uniform Assessment and the Benefit Principle," Journal of Urban Economics, 13: 127-146.

Beck, John H. (1982) "Is Cleveland Another New York?" Urban Affairs Quarterly, 18: 207-216.

Beck, John H. (1982) "Income Sensitivity of Price Elasticities:  Comment," Public Finance Quarterly, 10: 511-516.

Beck, John H. (1982) "Perverse Effects of Partial Taxation of Unemployment Benefits," National Tax Journal, 35: 223-228.

Beck, John H. (1981) "Budget-Maximizing Bureaucracy and the Effects of State Aid on School Expenditures," Public Finance Quarterly, 9: 159-182.

Beck, John H. (1979) "An Analysis of the Supply-Side Effects of Tax Cuts in an IS-LM Model," National Tax Journal, 32: 493-499.

Beck, John H. (1979) "The Effects of Power Equalizing School Aid Formulas with an Income Factor," Journal of Education Finance, 5: 55-74.

Beck, John H. (1978) "An Alternative Campaign Finance Reform:  Public 'Laundries' for Secret Cash Contributions," Public Choice, 33: 125-127.

Other publications:


Beck, John H.  (2009) Review of They Are Us:  Lutherans and Immigration by Stephen Bouman and Ralston Deffenbaugh.  Journal of Markets & Morality 12:  409-410.

Beck, John H. (2006) "Gordon Tullock."  Pp. 877-878 in Bruce Frohnen, Jeffrey O. Nelson, and Jeremy Beer (eds.), American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia. Wilmington, Delaware:  Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

Beck, John H. (2003)  Review of A Penny for the Governor, A Dollar for Uncle Sam:  Income Taxation in Washington by Phil Roberts, Columbia, 17:  45.

Beck, John H. (1997) "An Economist's Projections."  Pp. 446-447, 451 in Vikki F. Howard, Betty Fry Williams, Patricia D. Port and Cheryl Lepper, Very Young Children with Special Needs:  A Formative Approach for the Twenty-First Century.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice Hall.

Beck, John H. "An Experimental Test of Preferences for the Distribution of Income," Classroom Expernomics 1 (Spring 1992): 2-3.  Reprinted in Greg Delemeester and John Neral, Classroom Experiments to Accompany Taylor's Economics:  A User's Guide (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995), pp. 93-99.

Beck, John H. (1994) "State and Local Government Finance," in Douglas Greenwald (ed.), The McGraw- Hill Encyclopedia of Economics, 2nd edition, (New York:  McGraw-Hill), pp. 935-938.

Beck, John H.; and Joseph L. Bast. (1990) "Taxes and Economic Growth", pp. 15-32 in Joseph L. Bast and Diane Bast (eds.), Coming Out of the Ice:  A Plan to Make the 1990s Illinois' Decade. Chicago:  The Heartland Institute.

Beck, John H. (1988) "House Bill 920:  Effects on the Growth of Tax Revenues," Urban Fiscal Ledger, vol. 5, no. 2: 6-8.

Beck, John H. (1987) "Selective Tax Abatements:  Do They Work?" Heartland Policy Study No. 14 Chicago:  The Heartland Institute.

Beck, John H. (1987) "Municipal Government Use of Short-Term Debt:  The Case of Cleveland," in John M. Quigley (ed.), Perspectives on Local Public Finance and Public Policy, vol. 3 (Greenwich, CT:  JAI Press), pp. 65-83.
Beck, John H. (1985) "Government Shortsightedness and Discretionary Tax Abatement:  Local Tax Rates and Business Investment," in John M. Quigley (ed.), Perspectives on Local Public Finance and Public Policy, vol. 2 (Greenwich, CT:  JAI Press), pp. 203-214.

Beck, John H. (1975) "A Libertarian Looks for Limits," (review of James Buchanan, The Limits of Liberty) Intercollegiate Review, 11 (Fall): 35-37.

Beck, John H. (1975) “The Free Market and the Opportunity for Virtue,” pp. 46-55 in John M. Henry (ed.), Free Enterprise ... An Imperative.  West Branch, IA:  The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association.