DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS

Faculty Updates

Our faculty have been busy this year advancing the bounds of economic scholarship, engaging the world and setting high standards for our students. Visit the homepage for more publications and news and see what podcasts faculty recommend!

George-Marios Angeletos

George-Marios Angeletos’ co-authored paper, “Public Debt as Private Liquidity: Optimal Policy,” was published in the November 2023 edition of the Journal of Political Economy.

Vivek Bhattacharya and Gaston Illanes

Vivek Bhattacharya and Gaston Illanes’ study, "Mergers in Consumer Packaged Goods and Consumer Prices" was featured by NBER. Studying the results of 50 $280 million dollar or more mergers, the researchers examine the effects of mergers on the sales prices and quantities.

Martin Eichenbaum

Martin Eichenbaum was appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Panel on Macroeconomics and Climate-related Risks and Opportunities. The Roundtable will improve the understanding of how the physical and transition effects of climate change relate to and affect macroeconomic performance and the implications for fiscal, monetary, and financial stability policies.

Jeffrey Ely

Jeffrey Ely’s co-authored paper, “Optimal Feedback in Contests,” was published in the October 2023 edition of The Review of Economic Studies.

Ben Golub

Ben Golub was elected as a Fellow of the Econometric Society. 

Yingni Guo

Yingni Guo’s co-authored paper “Wealth Dynamics in Communities,” was published in the July 2023 edition of The Review of Economic Studies.

Kirabo Jackson

Kirabo “Bo” Jackson was appointed to the White House’s Council of Economic Advisors. Jackson, the Abraham Harris Professor of Education and Social Policy at the School of Education and Social Policy, was appointed as a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). The CEA advises the President on economic policy based on data, research and evidence. Jackson’s term began at the end of August.

Elisa Jácome

Elisa Jácome was spotlighted by the Institute for Policy Research for her work on public policy issues centered on immigration, crime, and mental health. She also presented a colloquium for the Institute for Policy Research in January 2024 discussing “Immigration Enforcement and Public Safety.”

Dean Karlan

Dean Karlan discussed his work as USAID's chief economist in Vox. USAID relies heavily on a small number of well-connected contractors to deliver most aid, while other groups are often deterred from even applying by the process’s complexity. Use of rigorous evaluation methods like randomized controlled trials — where development programs are tested on a random subset of the target population to see if they work — are the exception, not the norm. One of the agency’s current leaders tasked with changing this status quo is its chief economist, Dean Karlan. His appointment was perceived as a major victory for people in and around USAID who want its programs to rely more on rigorous evidence.

Charles Manski

Charles Manski presented the Marshall Lectures at the University of Cambridge in November 2023. Manski’s lectures discussed “Credible Social Planning under Uncertainty” and “Diversified Treatment Under Ambiguity, With Application to Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Treatment.”

Kiminori Matsuyama

Kiminori Matsuyama’s article, "Non-CES Aggregators: A Guided Tour," was published in The Annual Review of Economics.

Joel Mokyr

Joel Mokyr, 2023 Miller Upton Scholar, was honored at Beloit College. The Miller Upton Forum seeks to deepen students’ understanding of the wealth and well-being of nations through intimate interactions with preeminent thinkers. The Miller Upton Scholar is a public intellectual whose distinguished work and influential ideas become the driving force of the annual forum.

In November 2023, Joel Mokyr awarded a doctorate honoris causa by the University of Lyon 2, France.

Mar Reguant

Mar Reguant was interviewed on VoxDevTalks about renewable energy in low- and middle-income countries. The price of renewables has fallen much faster than other sources of energy, making it a more accessible option for governments in low- and middle-income countries. In this episode of VoxDevTalks, Mar Reguant and John Van Reenen discuss how renewable power provides a unique opportunity to decarbonise electricity generation, and how policy can speed up the green transition.

Matthew Rognlie

Matthew Rognlie’s co-authored paper, “New Pricing Models, Same Old Phillips Curves?” was published in the September 2023 edition of The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Marciano Siniscalchi

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