Daniel J. D’Amico is the inaugural director of the Stephenson Institute for Classical Liberalism founded in 2021 and an associated faculty member at Wabash College. The Stephenson Institute is a student-focused resource center dedicated to investigating questions related to personal responsibility, individual rights, freedom of speech, and the essential role of liberty in a free society.
Prior to 2022 Professor D’Amico was the Associate Director of The Political Theory Project and Lecturer in Economics at Brown University where he taught and coordinated student programs dedicated to the study of institutions and ideas that make societies free, prosperous, and fair. Prior to arriving at Brown in 2015, Daniel was awarded the level of Associate Professor of economics at Loyola University New Orleans, where he garnered awards for teaching, research and service.
Daniel earned his doctoral degree in economics from George Mason University in 2008. His dissertation, “The Imprisoner’s Dilemma: The Political Economy of Proportionate Punishment,” was awarded the Israel M. Kirzner Award for best dissertation in Austrian Economics by the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics. In 2011 Daniel's paper, “The Prison in Economics: Private and Public Incarceration in Ancient Greece,” was awarded the Gordon Tullock Prize for the best paper published in the journal Public Choice by a scholar under the age of forty.
Daniel’s current research is focused upon the applied political economy of punishment and incarceration throughout history and around the world. He has published over 20 journal articles in a variety of scholarly outlets across academic disciplines including but not limited to Public Choice, the Journal of Comparative Economics, the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organizations, the Journal of Institutional Economics, and Public Affairs Quarterly. Daniel is currently the co-editor of Advances in Austrian Economics, a fellow with the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, an affiliated scholar with the workshop in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at George Mason University. He is a cofounder of the Carl Menger Essay Contest.
Dr. Ammons' research focuses on the intersection of economics, political institutions, and social movements, with a particular emphasis on nonviolent action and revolutionary change. Dr. Ammons earned his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2024, where he also served as a Graduate Lecturer.
His work has been published in journals such as World Development Perspectives, Public Choice, and the Journal of Markets and Morality. Dr. Ammons is passionate about exploring how economic principles can shed light on social and political phenomena, including the institutional effects of revolutions, the relationship between nonviolent action and market processes, and the role of constitutional entrepreneurship in shaping societies. Outside of his academic pursuits, Dr. Ammons resides in Ladoga, Indiana with his wife and two children.
Atanacio "Tony" Hernandez recently earned his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. His dissertation, "Natural Rights and Criminal Punishment," examines moral problems facing legal institutions of punishment. Using the accounts of punishment in John Locke's and Adam Smith's theories of natural rights, he shows how individuals' natural rights generate difficulties for the state's legitimate acquisition of the right to punish, as well as difficulties for the state's legitimate exercise of that right. Tony's topics and approach are of significant relevance to the classical liberal tradition.
While in residence, Tony will be converting chapters of his dissertation into publishable manuscripts for submission in refereed academic journals and making progress on an eventual book-length manuscript. Equipped with the Institute's support, Tony will also participate and collaborate to design research and discussion colloquia on similar themes to his research.
Cameron Tilley was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics with honors from Hampden-Sydney College, where he later worked for two years as Assistant Dean of Admissions. Cameron returned to North Carolina to pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science at Duke University.
His research focuses on political institutions with an emphasis on studying social norms, which are the rules that emerge through social interactions and mutual expectations. His work also focuses on the broader field of Public Choice and group decision-making.
The Institute sponsors events that bring thought leaders to the Wabash campus, engaging students and the wider community. See Upcoming Events.
The Institute supports students pursuing summer internships with national and international public-policy organizations aligned with its mission. Learn More.
The Institute was founded by Wabash alumnus Richard J Stephenson '62, a philanthropist and entrepreneur who is committed to a free society. Learn More.
Drawing on the experience of legendary Wabash trustee Pierre Goodrich and Economics Professor Benjamin Rogge, the Stephenson Institute celebrates Wabash's tradition of exploring ideas over ideology. Learn More.
As part of a long tradition of building free societies, including principles such as individual choice and constitutionalism, some perennial ideas about liberty resonate–from the Founding Era to our own. Learn More.
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