Michael F. Sproul
16944 Vasquez Canyon Rd.
Canyon Country, CA 91351-1437
661-733-4530
Updated 10/10/2017
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Economics, UCLA (1990)
Doctoral Dissertation: "The Effect of Antitrust Prosecution on Prices Charged by Firms Accused of Price Fixing"
M.A., Economics, UCLA (1980)
B.A., Economics, UCLA (1978)
WORK EXPERIENCE
2005-present: Lecturer, Economics, University of Southern California
(including Directed Research projects for undergraduate students)
2001-2003: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Redlands
2000-2001: Lecturer, Economics, UC Santa Barbara
1999: Visiting Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University
1993-2016: Lecturer, Economics, UCLA
1980-2011: Lecturer, Economics, CSUN (retired, 2011)
1984: Lecturer, Economics, Loyola Marymount University
1983: Instructor, Santa Monica City College
1982: Staff Economist, Merrill Lynch IBAR, Pasadena, CA
(Duties: Firm valuation; Valuation of damages in Personal Injury/Wrongful Death cases)
1982: Instructor, Los Angeles City College
1981: Instructor, West Coast University
Courses taught: Industrial Organization, Price Theory, Money and Banking, Micro/Macro Principles
PUBLICATIONS
2016: The Shut-down Price, Reconsidered (Munich, REPEC Archive)
2011: The fiscal theory of the price level and the backing theory of money.
2010: The Law of Reflux.
2009: Principles of Economics: An Online Textbook (
2003: Contributing author, The Biographical Dictionary of British Economists. Authored biographical entries on Charles Bosanquet and Simon Clement.
1993: "Antitrust and Prices", The Journal of Political Economy, August, 1993 (Paper summarized in The New York Times, 10/10/93)
1988: Assistant author, with Jack Hirshleifer, of Price Theory and Applications, 3/e (Prentice-Hall)
1984, 1988, 1991, and 1997: Study Guide and Teacher's Manual to accompany Price Theory and Applications (editions 2-5).
1981: Problems and Uses of Price Theory, (Kendall/Hunt)
WORKING PAPERS
“The FiscalTheory of the Price Level and the BackingTheory of Money” (2011)
“The Law of Reflux”(2010)
“There’s No Such Thing as Fiat Money”, UCLA Working Paper #830, 2003.
"Backed Money, Fiat Money, and the Real Bills Doctrine", UCLA Working Paper #774, 1997.
"The Quantity Theory versus the Real Bills Doctrine in Colonial America", UCLA Working Paper #775, 1998.
"A Graphical Interpretation of Coase's Theorem", 1999.
"The Shut-Down Condition, Reconsidered", 1999.
"Three False Critiques of the Real Bills Doctrine", 1999.
GUEST POSTS TO ECONOMICS BLOGS
“The Law of Reflux”, on JP Koning’s Moneyness blog, 9/28/2014,
“Scott Sumner vs. the Real Bills Doctrine”, on JP Koning’s Moneyness blog, 6/3/2014,
“Short Squeezes, Bank Runs, and Liquidity Premiums”, on JP Koning’s Moneyness blog, 4/8/2014,
“The Bullionist Debates”, guest post on the Alt-M Monetary Theory Blog, 1/11/2014