His primary interests are public finance and urban economics, and his research has examined federal housing subsidies, spatially targeted redevelopment programs, the incidence of tobacco taxation, and racial discrimination in housing markets. Hanson's work has been published in several academic outlets including the Journal of Urban Economics, National Tax Journal, Regional Science and Urban Economics, and the Journal of Regional Science. He received a BS in economics from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and earned a PhD in economics from Syracuse University.