Alan O. Ebenstein
American political scientist, educator and author

Alan Oliver (Lanny) Ebenstein (born May 28, 1959) is an American political scientist, economist, educator, and author, known best for his biographical works on prominent economists including Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman. He is a lecturer at University of California, Santa Barbara.
Biography
Ebenstein was born in Princeton, New Jersey, to William Ebenstein (1910-1976), a noted political scientist, and Ruth Ebenstein. He graduated from Santa Barbara High School in 1977, where he was elected Associated Student Body President. He obtained his BA at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1982, and his PhD at the London School of Economics in 1988.
After his graduation, Ebenstein was an instructor at Antioch University from 1990 to 1996. In 1992, he ran unsuccessfully as the Republican nominee for California's 35th State Assembly District. From 1990 to 1998 he was a member of the Santa Barbara Board of Education. Since 2005, he has been a visitor and lecturer in economic thought and history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 2007 he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Santa Barbara.
The public source identifies “Alan O. Ebenstein” as american political scientist, educator and author. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Alan, Ebenstein and American.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q19787390. VIAF identifies the subject as 71371. The Library of Congress control number is n90692103. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1959, 1910, 1976 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “Alan O. Ebenstein” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.