John Garen was named a Distinguished Kentucky Economist at the Kentucky Economics Association 2020 Meeting. Dr. Garen also delivered the KEA keynote address, “The Economics of Organizations as Applied to Schools: Confessions of an Old-Fashioned Economist.” 

Past Distinguished Kentucky Economist winners include Nobel laureate James Heckman; Kip Viscusi of Vanderbilt University; Maureen Cropper of University of Maryland; and Jeffrey Lacker, former president of Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. In recent years, Glenn Blomquist, Dave Wildasin, and Genia Toma have been selected for the award.