William Skimmyhorn

Biography

William Skimmyhorn is an Associate Professor of Finance and Economics.  Prior to joining the faculty at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, he was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy at West Point.  While there, he served as the inaugural Long-Term Research Coordinator for the U.S. Army Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis.  In this position, he was responsible for providing analytic support to senior government leaders, managing a research network of leading scholars at more than a dozen institutions nationwide, and designing research and program evaluations to improve public policy.

He researches the causes and consequences of individual financial decision-making and human capital development. This research contributes to fields including household finance, behavioral finance and behavioral economics, public economics, labor economics, and the economics of national security. He has presented his research at academic conferences around the country and to policy-makers in a variety of settings, and published in journals including the Review of Economics and Statistics, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and the Journal of Public Economics.  His research has been cited by Congressional commissions, international and national governmental agencies, and non-profit organizations. He has received media coverage from Forbes, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

He earned a B.S. degree in Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, an M.S. degree in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, an M.A. degree in International Policy from Stanford, and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University.  Prior to arriving at William & Mary, Dr. Skimmyhorn was a career military officer in the U.S. Army as an aviator and an economist.

Areas of Interest/Expertise

• Household Finance
• Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance
• Human Capital Development
• Economics of National Security