Daniel J. Smith is an adjunct scholar with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and a Ph.D. candidate in economics at George Mason University. Smith’s expertise lies in Austrian economics and public choice theory. He has twice served as a Mackinac Center research intern.

Michael D. LaFaive is director of the Mackinac Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative. He is the author of dozens of commentaries and studies on such fiscal policy issues as state government spending, privatization, economic development and unfunded federal mandates. His Op-Eds have appeared in numerous Michigan newspapers, and he is regularly quoted in television, radio and newspaper stories. Since 1995, LaFaive has served as managing editor of the Mackinac Center periodical Michigan Privatization Report.