Personal

The academic homepage is the professional version of me; this page is the human one.

I live in Hays County, Texas.

I grew up in eastern North Carolina, went to UNC Wilmington for undergrad, and to UNC Chapel Hill for graduate school. I have attended or worked at public schools my entire life — kindergarten through twelfth grade in eastern North Carolina, undergraduate degree at UNC Wilmington, doctorate at UNC Chapel Hill, a postdoctoral fellowship at Arizona State University — and now serve on the faculty at Texas State. That through-line shapes how I think about public finance more than anything else does.

I study state and local public finance and economic development — particularly how local governments and financial institutions shape who benefits and who pays when shocks hit. My journal work is the more rigorous expression of those interests.

Outside of the work, I watch a lot of golf and college sports — men’s and women’s — any of which occasionally offers a clean empirical setting for a statistical question. The basketball loyalties (men’s and women’s both) are UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Wilmington; the football loyalty is now Texas State, which is genuinely good and getting better. I keep a list of books I am working through and a longer list of books I would like to be.

If you want to get in touch or flag a correction, the inbox is open: scottlangford@txstate.edu. I am also on X. For something more formal — office hours, address, professional bio — see the homepage.