Morton Shapiro Center for Applied Economics
Welcome to the Morton Shapiro Center for Applied Economics at Northwestern University.
Endowed through a generous gift from the Ryan Family, the Center was established to foster and expand innovative, data-driven research with real-world impact. We are a community of scholars committed to advancing applied economics across the fields of Health, Education, Labor, and Public Economics. The Center provides resources and support for Northwestern faculty and students engaged in tackling today’s most pressing social and economic challenges.
Key People
Featured Publications
Revealed Beliefs and the Marriage Market Return to Education (Abi Adams and Alison Andrew, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2025)
Collective Bargaining for Women: How Unions Can Create Female-friendly Jobs (Garima Sharma, Viola Corradini, and Lorenzo Lagos, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2025)
Trauma at School: The Impacts of Shootings on Students’ Human Capital and Economic Outcomes (Molly Schnell, Hannes Schwandt, Marika Cabral, Bokyung Kim, and Maya Rossin-Slater, Review of Economic Studies, 2025)
Mobility for All: Representative Intergenerational Mobility Estimates over the Twentieth Century (Elisa Jácome, Ilyana Kuziemko, and Suresh Naidu, Journal of Political Economy, 2025)
The Dynamics of Abusive Relationships (Abi Adams, Kristiina Huttunen, Emily Nix, and Ning Zhang, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2024)
Violence Against Women at Work (Abi Adams, Kristiina Huttunen, Emily Nix, and Ning Zhang, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2024)
What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of School Output (Kirabo Jackson, Diether W. Beuermann, Laia Navarro-Sola, and Francisco Pardo, The Review of Economic Studies, 2023)
Featured News
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Prof. Abi Adams joins Northwestern as Professor of Economics and Director of the Morton Schapiro Center for Applied Microeconomics |
Prof. Nancy Qian on the Planet Money podcast: The Long View of Economics and Immigration |
Prof. Lori Beaman uses quantitative skills to study “people problems” |
July 17, 2025 "Dr. Adams is a Labor and Applied Microeconomist with research interests across three main areas: (i) the economic causes and consequences of gender-based violence; (ii) the supply of, and demand for, job flexibility; (iii) the identification of behavioral models of decision-making in observational data or through strategic survey instruments." |
November 20, 2024 "Mass deportations. What would actually happen—economically—if the President-elect follows through on promises to deport millions of people from America. [...] What does immigration do for an economy? What types of immigration help? And who benefits?" |
October 22, 2024 "The Breen Family Professor of Economics first became interested in development economics when she was a Northwestern freshman studying chemical engineering. Now she teaches the course that inspired her."
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Northwestern University Department of Economics |
National Public Radio |
Northwestern University Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences |