Victor V. Claar, Ph.D., is associate professor of economics at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, where he holds the BB&T Distinguished Professorship in Free Enterprise. He is also an affiliate scholar of the Acton Institute. He recently served as a Fulbright Scholar at the American University of Armenia, where he conducted research and gave lectures to graduate students in both management and political science. Professor Claar has a long, impressive record of publications, including his influential book, Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices, now in its tenth printing and recently translated into Chinese.

While you may have heard that economics was once dubbed the “dismal science,” Professor Claar’s work demonstrates that this field is quite the opposite, especially when it does what Professor Claar does: combine sobering analysis and Christian principles to offer a vision of hope. Professor Claar is also the author of Fair Trade?Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution, an incisive, thoughtful work that challenges us all to rethink how we buy what we need and want.