Courses

Richard Gearhart

Assistant Professor

California State University, Bakersfield

Richard Gearhart joined California State University, Bakersfield in August of 2014, coming from Clemson University in South Carolina, where he earned both his Master’s degree and his Ph.D. in Economics. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Economics and is the Managing Editor of the Kern Economic Journal, a publication that tracks and analyzes local economic trends and data.

Dr. Gearhart is an expert on Health Economics, Labor Economics, Regional Economics, and Public Sector Economics, analyzing the efficiency and productivity of healthcare delivery systems at the individual, local, and regional levels. He has published peer-reviewed articles examining both county and state level healthcare efficiency, as well as focusing on limitations of looking across countries to model healthcare systems. Dr. Gearhart also has written articles on the impact of oil prices on employment in various sectors in Kern County, such as manufacturing, farming, and service-oriented, as well as the health impacts of rapidly fluctuating oil prices.

He has appeared on a variety of media outlets and has been asked to talk about the policy implications of numerous public policies, including the increase in the California minimum wage, and the state of the national housing market. He hopes to provide the tools with which citizens can engage in informed debate about various measures being proposed for the near and far future.

Blog Posts

What happens when you raise the minimum wage?

November 13, 2016
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Basic Economics

What happens when you raise the minimum wage? California’s new minimum wage law may improve food security for the poor, but it also threatens to cut hours or kill jobs for millions of workers. Under the law, by 2018, the new minimum wage in California will rise from $10 to $11. By 2022 it will be $15, the highest in the country at the state level. Though there have already been city-specific minimum wage increases beyond the federal and state level, a large state-wide increase like this has the potential to seriously distort the labor market. The minimum wage has a long history in the United

Pokemon Go an Example of the Superiority of Market Solutions to Government Solutions

September 3, 2016
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Free Markets and Capitalism

Nearly 17.2-percent of youths are considered obese, and almost a third are overweight or obese. Since the 1960’s, the number of obese children has nearly quadrupled. Today, the rate of increase in childhood obesity is slowing, but already-obese children are getting heavier. This is important. Nearly half of obese children remain obese as adults. Obese individuals spend nearly $2,000 more on healthcare than normal weight adults annually. During the course of a normal lifespan, this equates to about $130,000 in additional costs. These simple statistics provide a snapshot of the tremendous issues