He is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and he has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of British Columbia. He has held faculty positions at Georgia State University, the University of Tasmania and the University of Regina, where he served as dean of the faculty of fine arts. He is co-editor of the Journal of Cultural Economics, serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Policy, and has published widely in the fields of cultural policy and public finance, with his current research focused on tax policy regarding charitable donations and nonprofit organizations. In 2009, he received SPEA's award for excellence in graduate teaching. For more information, see http://www.indiana.edu/~spea/faculty/rushton-michael.shtml.