Holds a B.S. in Economics from Ohio University, a Master, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Florida State University. He also holds the Jerome M. Fullinwider Endowed Centennial Chair in Economic Freedom in the O’Neil Center for Global Markets and Freedom in the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University.

Robert Lawson is on the board of the Association of Private Enterprise Education and is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society. Some awards he has received are the Adam Smith Award, Association of Private Enterprise Education (2019), Kent Aronoff Service Award (2013), among others. He has co-written several books, his latest publication is Socialism Sucks: Two Economists Drink Their Way Through the Unfree World with Benjamin Powell. Lawson also has numerous professional publications in journals such as Public Choice, Cato Journal, and the European Journal of Political Economy.