Francine
Lafontaine
Professor of Business Economics
and Public Policy

PROFESSIONAL INFO
I am a Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a Professor of Economics (courtesy) at the University of Michigan's Department of Economics. You can find out more about me, including my contact information, on my faculty profile page.

RESEARCH INTERESTS
I study Industrial Organization, Vertical Relationships, Contracting and Franchising, and Entrepreneurship. My research is mostly concerned with the application of advances in contract theory and vertical relationships to the analysis of franchising arrangements. I also study contracts and the role of owner operators in the trucking industry, the effect of contracting practices on firm performance, as well as issues surrounding business creation and survival in retail and small-scale service industries more generally.

My book, The Economics of Franchising [amazon.com] (with Roger D. Blair) was published by Cambridge University Press. I also edited Franchise Contracting and Organization [amazon.com], published by Edward Elgar Publishing.

Here is my vita in PDF format.

TEACHING
In Winter 10, I'm teaching the Applied Industrial Economics course in the PhD program with Jagaseesh Sivadasan.