Kimberlee Josephson
Contributor
Kimberlee Josephson, Ph.D., is a Professor of Business Administration at Lebanon Valley College. She is an Academic Fellow with the Open Discourse Coalition, a Research Fellow with the Consumer Choice Center, a member of the Speakers Bureau at Heterodox Academy, and a participant in the Foundation for Economic Education Faculty Network.
Dr. Josephson teaches undergraduate and MBA courses in organizational behavior, international business, and strategic marketing. Her research examines how markets function within social, political, and institutional environments, with particular interests in political economy, consumer behavior, entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility.
She holds a Ph.D. in Global Studies and Commerce and an M.S. in International Policy Studies from La Trobe University in Australia, an M.A. in International Relations from Temple University, and a B.S. in Business Administration with a minor in Political Science from Bloomsburg University. Her work has been featured in national media, and she has been interviewed by NPR, the Schwab Network, the Cato Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. She has authored more than 150 articles on business, economics, higher education, and public policy, and regularly contributes to public discussions on the role of markets, institutions, and entrepreneurship in society.
-
•
Dishwashers, Dining Out, and Why We Spend the Way We Do
Why might we hesitate to buy a labor-saving appliance while routinely paying for restaurant meals? Our spending choices reflect our individual preferences and priorities.
-
•
AI Raises the Value of What It Can’t Replicate
From Broadway to the workplace, people pay a premium for what technology cannot reproduce. AI may make distinctly human qualities more valuable, not less.
-
•
The Corporate Virtue Trap
Businesses are increasingly judged by ethical scorecards. But when virtue becomes a target, firms learn to optimize the metric — crowding out what actually matters.
-
•
Rediscovering the Comparative Advantage of Business Schools
Before asking students how businesses should change society, business schools should ensure they understand how businesses create value in the first place.
-
•
The Unexpected Afterlife of Private Wealth
Private fortunes outlive their owners. The gardens, architecture, ideas, and institutions they finance often become part of the public inheritance.
-
•
Is ‘Ethical’ Coffee Morally Superior? Information Problems Haunt Conscious Consumers
Fair trade, organic, reef-safe, rainforest friendly, cruelty-free: are ethical labels useful signals, or simply morality as marketing?
-
•
You Can’t Plan the Next Play-Doh: Unexpected Discovery Drives Tomorrow’s Jobs
A failed wallpaper cleaner became a global toy — and a case study in job creation. Consumer tastes, not policy prescriptions, continually reinvent our economy.
-
•
A Praxeology of Productivity: Messy Humans, Not Machines, Run the Economy
Productivity depends not just on systems and incentives, but on human action, aspirations, and judgment.
-
•
The Capitalism ‘Stranger Things’ Runs On — But Pretends Not to Like
When Jonathan declares his artistic ambitions are anti-capitalist, it clashes with everything the show has relied on for five seasons. The finale demonstrates better jobs, bigger dreams, and individual agency rely on voluntary exchange.
-
•
Virtuous Cycles of Development: Why Institutions Matter More Than Aid
With “abundance” back in the policy lexicon, the real challenge is understanding what sustains growth: private enterprise, rule of law, and secure ownership.
-
•
Dishwashers, Dining Out, and Why We Spend the Way We Do
Why might we hesitate to buy a labor-saving appliance while routinely paying for restaurant meals? Our spending choices reflect our individual preferences and priorities.
-
•
AI Raises the Value of What It Can’t Replicate
From Broadway to the workplace, people pay a premium for what technology cannot reproduce. AI may make distinctly human qualities more valuable, not less.
-
•
The Corporate Virtue Trap
Businesses are increasingly judged by ethical scorecards. But when virtue becomes a target, firms learn to optimize the metric — crowding out what actually matters.
-
•
Rediscovering the Comparative Advantage of Business Schools
Before asking students how businesses should change society, business schools should ensure they understand how businesses create value in the first place.
-
•
The Unexpected Afterlife of Private Wealth
Private fortunes outlive their owners. The gardens, architecture, ideas, and institutions they finance often become part of the public inheritance.
-
•
Is ‘Ethical’ Coffee Morally Superior? Information Problems Haunt Conscious Consumers
Fair trade, organic, reef-safe, rainforest friendly, cruelty-free: are ethical labels useful signals, or simply morality as marketing?
-
•
You Can’t Plan the Next Play-Doh: Unexpected Discovery Drives Tomorrow’s Jobs
A failed wallpaper cleaner became a global toy — and a case study in job creation. Consumer tastes, not policy prescriptions, continually reinvent our economy.
-
•
A Praxeology of Productivity: Messy Humans, Not Machines, Run the Economy
Productivity depends not just on systems and incentives, but on human action, aspirations, and judgment.
-
•
The Capitalism ‘Stranger Things’ Runs On — But Pretends Not to Like
When Jonathan declares his artistic ambitions are anti-capitalist, it clashes with everything the show has relied on for five seasons. The finale demonstrates better jobs, bigger dreams, and individual agency rely on voluntary exchange.
-
•
Virtuous Cycles of Development: Why Institutions Matter More Than Aid
With “abundance” back in the policy lexicon, the real challenge is understanding what sustains growth: private enterprise, rule of law, and secure ownership.