Prof. Lafontaine has been with the faculty since 1991. Before that, she was an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Graduate School of Industrial Economics. She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics in 1988 from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Professor Lafontaine's areas of interest include Industrial Organization, Vertical Relationships, Contracting and Franchising. She has studied extensively and continues to work on the economics of franchise contracting, applying recent advances in contract theory and vertical relationships to the analysis of franchising contracts. She has become a leading expert in that area. She is also involved with the Trucking Industry Program in which she studies the role of owner-operators in the trucking industry.

Publications can be found at the following link - Publications