Jason Sorens is an Affiliated Scholar with the Mercatus Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Buffalo (SUNY).  His research interests include fiscal federalism, secessionism, ethnic violence, and comparative federalism. Prof. Sorens has published work in Electoral Studies, Comparative Political Studies, State Politics and Policy Quarterly, and other journals.  His latest work, co-authored with William P. Ruger, is Freedom in the 50 States: Index of Personal and Economic Freedom, published by the Mercatus Center and available here.  For more information about Freedom in the 50 States, including data sets, related research, and updates, please visit http://www.statepolicyindex.com/.

Prof. Sorens received a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy, with honors, from Washington and Lee Univeristy and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University.