Letter from the Chair
Alumni and Friends of the Department of Economics,
I write to you in my role as Chair of the Economics Department. I succeeded Joe Ferrie in September. The pandemic began six months into Joe’s term, and he capably shepherded the department through three stressful years.
Northwestern has just completed the fall quarter, and we in the Department look forward to an exciting winter and spring. As many of you know, this is the time of year when we actively recruit both new faculty and the next cohort of Ph.D. students.
George Marios Angeletos (Ph.D. Harvard University) will join our ranks from MIT in the winter quarter. Marios is a distinguished macroeconomist with an excellent record in both research and advising. In addition, we are searching at the senior level in applied microeconomics and in development. We are conducting an open field search at the junior level, as we have in most years. We are also searching for a teaching track position. The hires that result from these searches will help keep the department at the cutting edge of research in economics. The applied micro search will be greatly helped by the generous gift of the Ryan family to support the new Morton Schapiro Center for Applied Economics.
At the same time, we continue to train many of the leaders in the next generation of economists. With the tireless support of our director of graduate placement, Alessandro Pavan, we have more than 20 Ph.D. students who are actively engaged in the job market right now, participating in virtual interviews and in-person flyouts to some of the world's top universities, government agencies, and firms. But even as we prepare to say goodbye to these students, our directors of graduate admissions, Lori Beaman and Giorgio Primiceri, are sorting through hundreds of applications from prospective new Ph.D. students. The applicants are drawn from top universities around the world. By April 15th, all the decisions will have been made and we will prepare to welcome the incoming class of 2023.
Several of our faculty members and current and former students have received honors and recognition. Giorgio Primiceri was elected to be a Fellow of the Econometric Society, as were Kellogg faculty Dean Karlan and Nancy Qian and alumni Guido Menzio (Ph.D. 2005) and Laura Veldkamp (B.A. 1996). Irena Petryk was named a Rhodes Scholar. Irena will graduate this June and she will begin her studies in economic development at Oxford this fall.
In the summer, the department voted to promote Ben Golub to full professor. In the fall, we voted to promote Vivek Bhattacharya and Yingni Guo to associate professor, and to grant them tenure. We also voted to grant tenure to associate professor Walker Hanlon.
The 2022 Nemmers Prize in Economics has been awarded to Ariel Pakes of Harvard University. He was recognized for his “fundamental contributions to the development of the field of empirical industrial organization as it is applied to the study of market power, prices, mergers and productivity.” Ariel will visit the department for part of the 2023-2024 academic year.
With many campus activities resuming in-person during the fall quarter and winter quarter, many of the daily rhythms of the department -- in person teaching, seminars, faculty visitors, and casual interactions -- have resumed. We welcome the abatement of the inconveniences occasioned by the pandemic and celebrate the return of campus life to something resembling the pre-pandemic norm. Please feel free to drop by the Economics Department and see for yourself the vibrancy and excitement that our community continues to generate. Until then, please accept the best wishes of the Department of Economics.