Before joining FEE, Reed served as president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland, Michigan-based free-market think tank.

As a result of interactions with FEE in his teen years, Reed became exposed to the ideas of Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and others from the Austrian school of economics.

While at Northwood, Reed designed the university's dual major in economics and business management and founded its annual "Freedom Seminar".

[independent source needed] Over the past twenty-five years, he has reported on hyperinflation in South America, black markets from behind the Iron Curtain, reforms and repression in China and Cambodia, and civil war inside Nicaragua and Mozambique.

According to The New York Times, under his leadership, the Mackinac Center emerged as one of the largest and most influential state-level policy institutes in the United States.

"[10][11] Long active in Michigan policy, Reed was appointed in 1993 by the state's then-Governor John Engler (R) to the Headlee Amendment Blue Ribbon Commission.

"[16][independent source needed] Reed identifies with the Austrian School of economics and has referred to competition as one of the highest and most beneficial forms of human cooperation.

[19] Another of Reed's books is Striking the Root: Essays on Liberty, a bundling of works on the topic of government use of force, previously published in FEE's magazine, The Freeman.