Dr. Sandra J. Peart
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Profile
Dr. Sandra J. Peart became the fourth dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies in August 2007. In August 2018, she was appointed to the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professorship in Leadership Studies. She became president of the Jepson Scholars Foundation in 2019. She is the 2025 president of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, a past president of the International Adam Smith Society, and a past president of the History of Economics Society, where she began the Young Scholars Program.
Since 2018, she has been a Reform Club member and a Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce Fellow. In 2024, the History of Economics Society awarded her the Distinguished Fellow Prize for her lifetime contributions to the study of the history of economics. She was also named a Fulbright specialist in 2024, charged with supporting the development of a philosophy, politics, and economics undergraduate program at the Universidad del Desarrollo in Santiago, Chile.
Peart has written or edited 11 books, including her most recent book "The Essential John Stuart Mill" (Fraser Institute: 2021) and two books she co-authored with David M. Levy: "Towards an Economics of Natural Equals: A Documentary History of the Early Virginia School" (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and "Escape from Democracy: The Role of Experts and the Public in Economic Policy" (Cambridge University Press, 2017). She is the author of more than 100 articles in the areas of constitutional political economy, leadership in experimental settings, ethics and economics, and the transition to modern economic thought. Her popular articles on leadership, ethics, higher education, and economic themes have appeared in The New York Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, USA Today, and the Washington Post.
Peart obtained her doctorate in economics from the University of Toronto in 1989. She began her career as an assistant professor of economics at the College of William and Mary and then joined the faculty at Baldwin-Wallace University. She was a visiting scholar at the Center for Study of Public Choice at George Mason University in 2004–05, and the following year, she was a fellow of the American Council on Education.
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Awards
Fulbright specialist, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile, 2024
Distinguished Fellow Prize, History of Economics Society, 2024
Fellow, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, 2018 -
Senior Fellow, Fraser Institute, 2013 -
Fellow, American Council on Education, 2005
Faculty Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Gigax Foundation, 2004
Phenomenal Woman Award, presented by the students of Baldwin Wallace University, 2003
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Awards
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Selected Publications
Books
The Essential John Stuart Mill. The Fraser Institute: 2021.
Towards an Economics of Natural Equals: A Documentary History of the Early Virginia School, co-authored with David M. Levy. Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Escape from Democracy: The Role of Experts and the Public in Economic Policy, co-authored with David M. Levy. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Hayek on Mill: The Mill-Taylor Friendship and Related Writings. University of Chicago Press, 2015.
F. A. Hayek and the Modern Economy: Economic Organization and Activity, co-edited with David M. Levy. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
Journal Articles"Correcting Imposed Institutions: Default and Reparations?" co-published with David M. Levy, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice (February 2025).
"Frank H. Knight’s Eulogy of Abram L. Harris," co-authored with David M. Levy, The Review of Black Political Economy (first published online Jan. 7, 2025).
"Promise and Progress: Assessing Achievements, New Directions, and Gaps in Leadership Studies," Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies (December 2024).
“Temas de igualdad en Adam Smith y sus sucesores. Progreso, improvement y reforma social,” co-authored with David M. Levy, Estudios Públicos (July 2024).
"Harriet Martineau: Economist as Storyteller and Traveler," co-authored with David M. Levy, The Independent Review: A Journal of Political Economy (fall 2023).
"Mill's Harm Principle: A Study in the Application of 'On Liberty,'" Essential Scholars series, The Fraser Institute (May 2023).
"Menger and Jevons: Beliefs and Things," co-authored with David M. Levy, The Review of Austrian Economics (November 2022).
"On Making and Remaking Ourselves and Others: Mill to Jevons and Beyond on Rationality, Learning, and Paternalism," Review of Behavioral Economics 8, no. 3-4 (December 2021): 221-37.
"Economists on Private Incentives, Economic Models, and the Administrative State: The Clash between Happiness and the So-Called Public Good," Social Philosophy and Policy 38, no. 1 (Summer 2021): 152-69.
"Adam Smith, F. A. Hayek, and the Continentalists: Dehomogenizing the Liberal Tradition," History of Economic Ideas 28, no. 2 (2020): 59-71.
“Lessons for Liberalism in the 21st Century from the Colloque Walter Lippmann.” Special issue of Journal of Contextual Economics--Schmollers Jahrbuch 139, no. 2-4 (2019): 177-87.
"William Beveridge's 'Mock Trial of Economists'" (with David M. Levy), The Austrian Review of Economics (Sept. 2019): 1-32
"On Fallibility and Perfection: Boettke's Hayek vs. Mainline Economics," The Austrian Review of Economics (Sept. 2019): 1-66
"Gordon Tullock’s ill-fated appendix: 'Flatland Revisited'” (with David Levy), Constitutional Political Economy 28 (2017): 18-34.
"Group Analytics in Adam Smith’s Work," with David Levy, Eastern Economic Journal 42(4): June 2016: 514-527.
"Learning from Failure: A Review of Peter Schuck's 'Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better'" (with David M. Levy), Journal of Economic Literature, 53(3)(2015): 667-74.
"That ‘Most Inexhaustible of All Topics’: Reflections on the Leadership Studies Curriculum at the Jepson School," Journal of Leadership Studies (2014).
"Learning from Scandal about What We Know and What We Think We Know" (with David M. Levy), Homo Oeconomicus (2013).
"The Past as a Public Good," Social Science and Modern Society 49 (2012): 240-46.
"Leadership, Cheap Talk and Really Cheap Talk," (with David M. Levy, Kail Padgitt, Daniel Houser, and Erte Xiao) Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 77 (2011): 40-52.
Book Chapters"Responses to Our Commentators," co-authored with David M. Levy, in "Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on the Work of François Perroux" (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 40C), eds. L. Fiorito, S. Scheall, and C. E. Suprinyak, Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley (2022), pp. 233-236.
"The ‘Improvement of Mankind’: William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger on Decision Making and Learning," in "Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on Carl Menger at the Centenary of His Death," Vol. 39B (2021), pp. 9-22.
“Limits on the Application of Motivational Homogeneity in the Work of Buchanan and the Virginia School,” with David M. Levy, in "Buchanan’s Tensions: Reexamining the Political Economy and Philosophy of James M. Buchanan," eds. Peter J. Boettke and Solomon Stein. Arlington, VA: Mercatus (2018): 171-192.
"The Ethics Problem: Toward a Second-Best Solution to the Problem of Economic Expertise" (with David M. Levy), in "The Oxford Handbook of Professional Economic Ethics," edited by George E. DeMartino and Deirdre N. McCloskey. Oxford University Press, 2016.
“Hayek's Sympathetic Agents” (with David M. Levy), "Hayek and Liberalism," edited by Andrew Farrant. Routledge, 2010.
Reviews"Philip Kitcher, On John Stuart Mill," Œconomia (February 2023).
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In the News
Episode Eighty-Seven: An Interview with Sandra Peart (Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast)
Sat., Feb. 15, 2025Milestones: July 23, 2024 (Henrico Citizen)
Tue., Jul. 23, 2024Sandra Peart on ethical quandaries and politics without romance (Great Antidote Podcast)
Fri., Jun. 28, 2024Can we trust the experts? (Institute for New Economic Thinking)
Wed., Apr. 10, 2024The economic luminary who loved solar eclipses (The New York Times)
Mon., Apr. 8, 2024Harriet Taylor's partnership with John Stuart Mill (Online Library of Liberty)
Thu., Apr. 4, 2024Can randomized leadership work? (Diverse: Issues in Higher Education)
Mon., Oct. 9, 2023John Stuart Mill--Part 1: The moral, the political, and the economic (The Essential Scholars Explained Podcast)
Wed., Jan. 25, 2023Unusual majors help some colleges stand out from the crowd--and boost enrollment (The Hechinger Report)
Sun., Dec. 18, 2022Column: We need capable, ethical leaders -- now more than ever (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Sat., Nov. 19, 2022Public Speech and Democracy (History News Network)
Tue., Jan. 12, 2021The Underutilized Power of 'Externalities' -- An Economist's Take on Persuasive COVID-19 Communication (CommPRO)
Wed., Sep. 16, 2020Oh the Places You'll Go: Four Leadership Lessons from Commencement Season
Wed., Jun. 12, 2019Kenyan students in Barack Obama Leadership Program visit Richmond University
Thu., Aug. 18, 2016Around Robin Hood's Barn (Economic Principals)
Sun., Mar. 20, 2016Opinion: On Thankfulness and Remembering
Sun., Nov. 15, 2015Book edited by Dean Peart reviewed in New Statesman
Thu., May. 28, 2015Book edited by Dean Peart featured in The New York Review of Books
Fri., Mar. 13, 2015Malthusian ideas, used and abused (Chronicle of Higher Education)
Mon., Jun. 9, 2014Sandra Peart named president of the International Adam Smith Society
Mon., Dec. 2, 2013NYT article discusses research by Sandra Peart
Tue., Mar. 19, 2013Peart to moderate LEAD VIRGINIA's "Conversations with Leaders: Women in Leadership" program
Opinion: Overhauling how we teach leadership (Washington Post)
Tue., Feb. 12, 2013Are ethics in business still important?
Mon., Sep. 24, 2012Peart to deliver keynote address on effective and ethical leadership in healthcare
Wed., Sep. 12, 2012Dean Peart featured in Inside Higher Ed article on UR's new academic leadership
Fri., Jul. 15, 2011