The Origin of the DeVoe L. Moore Center

DeVoe L. Moore is a Tallahassee entrepreneur who got his start in the 1960s shoeing horses to pay for college. From these modest beginnings, Mr. Moore through hard work and commitment to personal initiative became a highly successful businessman who is now involved in activities throughout the Southeast. He is deeply committed to the free enterprise system and over the years has come to believe that opportunities for individual entrepreneurship have eroded. The rise of rules and regulations, particulary at the state and local level, have correspondingly undermined local economic development, reduced the number of job opportunities, and increased the cost of housing.

Moore’s frustration with the adverse consequences of these rules and regulations, e specially their tendency to undermine economic opportunity for ambitious young people, led his family in 1999 to create the DeVoe L. Moore Center. The Center’s mission is to study the impact of state and local regulations and to educate young people, citizens, and policy makers about their consequences in a free enterprise economy.

This major gift put the College of Social Sciences at the forefront of a recent surge of interest among policy makers and academics to understand the unintended c osts of rules and regulations. There is agreement among scholars that issues have not received enough attention and that current research is not adequate to guide policy makers. Part of the problem is that currently available data are inadequate for scholars to document the likely negative effects of regulations, a lack of research that contributes to inadequate efforts to stem the tide of regulatory barriers. The DeVoe L. Moore Center is dedicated to research and education that will lead to improved public policy at the state and local level.

Recognizing his contributions to Florida State University, DeVoe L. Moore received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters on February 4, 2005.

DeVoe L. Moore Center Dedication
October 13, 1999

DeVoe L. Moore	President Talbot D'Alemberte, Dean Marie Cowart, DeVoe L. Moore, and Governor Jeb Bush
Governor Jeb Bush, DeVoe L. Moore, and President Talbot D'Alemberte	Audience gathered at steps of Bellamy Building

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