Economic warfare, gray-zone competition and modern institutional decision-making share a common failure mode: decisions are delayed until pressure peaks. By the time certainty arrives, options are constrained and outcomes are forced.
Gray Zone Economics exists to make decision quality legible before that point. The work here focuses on how institutions classify reality, sequence risk and design decision systems that function under ambiguity rather than collapse under it.
Some of the analysis applies directly to national security and economic warfare. Other pieces are intentionally abstracted, designed to transfer across domains where prioritization, escalation, and survivability matter more than optimization.
Standards
The work published here follows a few simple rules:
- Clarity over volume
- Frameworks over opinions
- Revision over velocity
- Calm analysis over urgency
Papers are written to be used, not reacted to.
About the Author
Austin Higgins works at the intersection of product strategy, finance and national security, with a focus on designing decision systems that allow institutions to operate effectively under uncertainty. His work centers on translating reality into priorities, constraints and rules so decisions are made early, calmly and consistently rather than reactively or under pressure.
He currently leads platform strategy for Finance & Risk Solutions at Dun & Bradstreet, where he works across shared services, AI/ML-powered analytics and self-service platforms supporting a global portfolio. His responsibilities span retention, capital efficiency, execution clarity and infrastructure cost discipline across complex product lines operating at scale.
In parallel, Austin serves as Chief Financial Officer of the Special Operations Association of America, a 501(c)(19) dedicated to elevating the voices of the special operations community in support of U.S. national security. In this role, he focuses on capital stewardship, governance and operational sustainability for mission-driven programs operating in complex political and funding environments.
Austin has also supported humanitarian evacuation and family reunification efforts during active conflicts, coordinating with NGOs and congressional offices under severe information, time and operational constraints. This work required explicit prioritization, verification and escalation design and directly informs his thinking on survivability, risk sequencing and decision-making in high-stakes environments where tradeoffs are unavoidable.
He is a founding member of the Global Counterterrorism & Threat Intelligence Research Institute (GCTIRI) at UT Dallas, where he works on applied research at the intersection of data science, economics, OSINT and national security, with a particular interest in economic warfare and gray-zone competition.
Earlier in his career, Austin led and scaled global product, engineering and analytics teams across Fortune 100s, mid-market organizations, and growth companies, building platforms and services across data analytics, fintech, telecom, aviation and defense-adjacent technology.
He is a U.S. Air Force veteran, former nationally syndicated investment analyst, micro private equity investor and venture advisor. He holds an MBA in Investment Finance from UT Dallas, where he also lectured in Finance and Managerial Economics.