Educational History

Ph.D., University of Tennessee
M.A. University of Tennessee
Graduate, Command & General Staff College
B.A., Virginia Military Institute

Professional Highlights

• Director and George & Frances Ball Distinguished Professor, Center for Business and Economic Research, Ball State University
• Associate Professor, Air Force Institute of Technology
• Director of Research, Center for Business and Economic Research, Marshall University
• Visiting Research Assistant Professor, Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Tennessee
• Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d), Army of the United States

Research

Hicks, Michael J. and Dagney Faulk (2026) Tax Increment Financing and Regional Development: Evidence on Growth, Capture, and Fiscal Spillovers” Reaching Regions, https://doi.org/10.31274/rreg.22614

Hicks, Michael J., Amanda Weinstein and Emily Wornell (2025) “Why Have Local Economic Development Policies Been So Disappointing, and Where Do We Go from Here?” Reaching Regions, vol 1(1), Inaugural Collection, March 2025. https://doi.org/10.31274/rreg.18245

Hicks, Michael J. (2024) “Federal Fiscal Exposure of US Counties” Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Volume 54, Issue 2, December 2024.

Hicks, Michael J., and Dagney Faulk. (2024) “The Impact of a State-Level, Place-Based Economic Development Program: A Difference-in-Differences Approach.” Economic Development Quarterly (2024): https://doi.org/10.1177/08912424241237507

Weinstein, Amanda, Michael Hicks and Emily Wornell (2022) “An Aggregate Approach to Estimating Quality of Life in Micropolitan Areas” The Annals of Regional Science, 70, 447-476. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-022-01155-5

Faulk, Dagney and Michael Hicks (2022) School Choice and Student Transfers, Journal of School Choice, DOI: 10.1080/15582159.2022.2058445

Devaraj, Srikant, Pankaj Patel and Michael Hicks (2021) “Must access laws for opioid prescription and county gross domestic product.” Applied Economics Letters, 28(3) pp 196-200 (Paul Polzin Prize for the Best Paper at the Fall Conference, Association of University Business and Economic Research) https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2020.1740155

Fields of Expertise

Regional and Urban Economics, Spatial Modeling, Public Finance, Econometrics (Studies: Quality of Life, Tax Incentives, Labor Market Effects of Data Centers)

Quote

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit. . . ” C.S. Lewis