Dr. Conor Norris

Dr. Conor Norris is a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of General Business at West Virginia University and the Director of Labor with the Knee Regulatory Research Center. His research interests lie in the causes and consequences of occupational regulation. He uses public choice theory as a lens to explore how occupational licensing laws and reforms are designed and spread between states, and applied microeconomics to estimate the effects of licensing on workers, industries, and consumers. Part of his role at the Knee Center involves building and sharing state-level regulatory datasets.

He received a Ph.D. in economics from Universidad Francisco Marroquín and an MA in economics from George Mason University. He has published research on labor economics and health economics in journals including the Journal of Labor Research, the Journal of Regulatory Economics, and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has shared his research with state legislators and policymakers, authoring white papers and providing expert testimony to state legislatures on occupational licensing reform. He has also authored more than 50 articles in the popular press, including media outlets like The Hill, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle, and RealClear Policy.