Senior Leadership
Jorge L. Martinez-Vazquez
Director, Public Finance Research Cluster (FRC, CSLF, ICePP)
Regents Professor of Economics
Martinez-Vazquez’s main interests are in public sector economics. He has published over 20 books and numerous articles in academic journals, such as Econometrica, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Public Economics, Southern Economic Journal and the Review of Economics and Statistics.
His expertise in fiscal decentralization, taxation and fiscal management has led to consulting assignments with federal agencies and state governments in the United States and over 60 countries including Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia, and Mexico. He has consulted with the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, and the Inter-American Development Bank, and has been a Member of the IMF Panel of Fiscal Experts since 1994.
Laura Wheeler
Associate Director, Center for State and Local Finance
Wheeler serves as the associate director of the Center for State and Local Finance as well as a senior research associate at the Fiscal Research Center (FRC). She is a primary contact for the centers’ research on state and local government policy.
During her time at Georgia State University, Wheeler has worked on many issues related to state and local governments, such as forecasting revenue effects of proposed legislation, local government structure and finances, and forecasting local government revenues. She received her doctorate in economics from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University. Previously, she worked for several years with the Joint Committee on Taxation for Congress and as an independent tax policy consultant. Wheeler’s other research interests include state and local taxation, corporate taxation and welfare policy.
Paul Benson
Associate Director, Public Finance Research Cluster (FRC, CSLF, ICePP)
Paul focuses on research and training for three collaborative centers: the International Center for Public Policy (ICePP) , the Center for State and Local Finance and the Fiscal Research Center.
His experience includes over 20 years in various roles at ICePP. He is an operations and management professional with experience in overseeing a wide spectrum of multimillion dollar economic technical assistance and training projects in developing countries spanning six regions (Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean Islands, and the Commonwealth of Independent States). Clients include the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and various foreign governments.
Robert D. Buschman
Associate Director, Fiscal Research Center
In addition to serving as the associate director of the Fiscal Research Center (FRC), Buschman is as a senior research associate at the Center for State and Local Finance.
He is FRC’s key contact for fiscal note analyses of proposed Georgia revenue legislation. His research interests include corporate and personal taxation, growth and equity effects of tax reform, state and local fiscal policy, and other topics. Prior to joining the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Buschman worked for several years in corporate banking and corporate financial management. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University, an MBA in finance from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in economics from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.
