Professor John Harter is a Professor of Economics in the College of Business at Eastern Kentucky University. He teaches courses in microeconomics and is particularly interested in microeconomic theory, industrial organization, and the economics of sports.

His research was originally focused on the varieties of products firms will produce and the effect of patents on those varieties. He has since expanded that to look at the effects of brand loyalty and consumer preferences in that context. In addition, he has developed lines of research in economic education and the economics of sports. He has co-authored with Cynthia Harter on a number of projects examining the effectiveness of teaching strategies and curricula in helping students at the K-12 level learn economics. He has also begun looking at the economic benefits to communities of sports programs and infrastructure. He has published in such journals as Contemporary Economic Policy, The International Journal of Industrial Organization, The Journal of Industrial Economics, The Review of Higher Education, and The Southern Economic Journal.

Professor Harter is originally from Anderson, Indiana. He did his undergraduate studies at Yale University and his graduate work at Purdue. Before coming to EKU, he taught at Purdue University, the University of Mississippi, Emory University, Georgia State University, and Duquesne University. He has also taught with the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) in Bregenz, Austria.