Olugbenga Ajilore is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Toledo, where he has been since 2003. He received his PhD from the Claremont Graduate University in 2002. His research interests lie within Public Finance and Demographic Economics where he examines multiple components of state and local spending through the lens of ethnic diversity. Two publications analyze police expenditures and another publication estimates the effect of increased ethnic diversity on the acquisition of armored vehicles by local law enforcement, using data from the Pentagon’s 1033 program.
His current research tackles the important and vital topic of racial bias and policing. The work expands on the current study of traffic stops and arrests to analyze excessive use of force, both lethal and non-lethal. Some preliminary findings have been published in Economics Bulletin and the Atlantic Economic Journal. In addition to study of racial bias, Dr. Ajilore has developed an expertise on police militarization, analyzing the rise of militarization and its effects on lethal and non-lethal use of force. This work has been funded by the Charles Koch Foundation.
