James R. Otteson is an American economist and professor. He is currently the Thomas W. Smith Presidential Chair in Business Ethics and professor of economics at Wake Forest University. He is also the executive director of the BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism at the university. Otteson is a leading scholar in the field of economic philosophy, particularly in the areas of Adam Smith and classical liberal thought. He has written extensively on the history of economic thought, the moral foundations of capitalism, and the role of markets in a free society. He is the author of several books, including Adam Smith's Marketplace of Life, The End of Socialism, and The Golden Rule of Economics. Otteson has been a visiting professor at the University of Munich, the University of St. Andrews, and the University of Toronto. He has also served as a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and the Association of Private Enterprise Education.