James Caton, PhD

Associate Professor of Economics

Faculty

Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth

James Caton Headshot

James Caton is a scholar at the Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth and an associate professor of economics in the Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. He teaches undergraduate courses on macroeconomics, international trade, and computation. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, agent-based computational economics, market process theory, and monetary economics. He has published in academic journals such as Southern Economic Journal, Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics, and Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy. He co-edited Macroeconomics, a two volume set of essays and primary sources that represent the core of macroeconomic thought. He is also a regular contributor to the American Institute for Economic Research's Sound Money Project, which conducts research and promotes awareness about monetary stability and financial privacy.

Areas of Study & Research

  • Macroeconomics
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Blockchain and cryptocurrencies
  • Monetary economics
  • Computational economics
  • Institutions

Education

  • PhD, Economics, George Mason University
  • MA, Economics, San Jose State University
  • BA, History, Humboldt State University

Publications

Recent Research Publications
Policy brief More Prairie Prosperity: Economy and Fiscal Policy in North Dakota
Policy brief Property Taxes and Budgetary Independence in North Dakota
Journal article Community, Pluralism, and Public Reason: An Entangled Analysis of Early Modern England
Journal article Crisis and Credit Allocation: The Effect of Ideology on Monetary Policy During the Great Depression and Great Recession
Journal article The Role of Funding on Research and Science: The Impact of Glyphosate Herbicides on Health and the Environment
Journal article Cryptocurrency, Decentralized Finance, and the Evolution of Money: A Transaction Costs Approach
Journal article The Evolution of Hayek’s Thought on Gold and Monetary Standards
Journal article What’s Holding Back Blockchain Finance? On the Possibility of Decentralized Autonomous Finance
Journal article Moral Community and Moral Order: Developing Buchanan’s Multilevel Social Contract Theory
Journal article Cryptoliquidity: The Blockchain and Monetary Stability
Journal article Creativity in a Theory of Entrepreneurship
Recent Media Publications
WDAY Radio NDSU Report Analyzes Tradeoffs of Measure 4 If Passed
WDAY Radio NDSU Professor Reacts to Fed's Action Today
Institute for Humane Studies Article Embracing AI for Empowerment with Dr. James L. Caton
Acton Institute Op-Ed Student Loans and the Sin of Usury
Edited Volume The Economics of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: A Transaction Costs Revolution
Blog Contributor Sound Money Project
Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness Fed Raises Interest Another 0.75 Percent
Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness Understanding Inflation, Recession, and the State of Our Economy
Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness Bitcoin and Blockchain 101
Freedom Adventure Podcast National Debt Nightmare
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead What is Blockchain?