Scott W. Barnhart, Ph.D. is President of Barnhart Economic Services, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in EB-5 economic job creation studies, TEA (Targeted Employment Area) designations, and EB-5 business plan writing as well as litigation support services. Dr. Barnhart received his Ph.D. in economics/econometrics from Texas A&M University and is an Associate Professor of Finance and the Program Director of the Certified Financial Planner™ Program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL.
Dr. Barnhart has used RIMS II and IMPLAN Pro Input-Output models to estimate the economic job creation impacts in support of I-924 regional center applications and RFE (Request for Further Evidence) responses for dozens of regional centers resulting in excess of 300 job creation and TEA reports submitted to USCIS in the EB-5 program. To date, the firm has analyzed projects with capital expenditures in excess of $8 billion with associated gross revenues of $4 billion. Projects include $10-$15 million hotels and assisted living facilities, $200-$500 million destination hotels and office buildings, and a $1.3 billion deep water cargo port off the coast of Louisiana. Professor Barnhart is also an active speaker in the national EB-5 circuit, having discussed EB-5 job creation and RFE issues in seminars across the US. In addition, Dr. Barnhart has consulted on legal cases ranging from stock valuation and ownership disputes to violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, to personal injury and wrongful birth and death.
Dr. Barnhart teaches Corporate Finance, Financial Institutions and Investments. His research interests are in the areas of mutual funds, futures markets, corporate governance, exchange rates and the application of econometrics in testing financial theories. His research has been published in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Harvard University’s Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Empirical Finance, the Journal of Banking and Finance, Financial Review, the Journal of International Money and Finance, the Journal of Futures Markets, and other finance and economics journals.