Labor and Public Economics
Northwestern has an active and growing group of economics faculty working in the areas of labor economics and public economics, both within the Economics Department and across the university. Labor economics and public economics are currently very active fields of economics research, with four of the past eight winners
of the John Bates Clark medal having research in labor economics or public economics cited in their prize
announcements.
Within the Economics Department, Northwestern’s labor economics and public economics faculty include Lori Beaman, Matt Notowidigdo, Molly Schnell and Burt Weisbrod. This group includes current and former members of the editorial boards of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Journal of Public Economics, and the Journal of Human Resources. Northwestern’s graduate students also interact regularly with labor economics and public economics faculty outside of the department, including David Figlio, Jon Guryan, Diane Schazenbach, and Kirabo Jackson.
Northwestern’s labor and public economics community benefits from interaction with other groups within the department (such as trade, econometrics, and economic history). There are also leading public economists in the Management and Strategy group within the Kellogg School of Management, and leading education
economists in the School of Education and Social Policy. The department holds a weekly Applied Microeconomics Seminar. Additionally, labor economics and public economics faculty and students often
attend seminars held by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR). Northwestern University President Morton Shapiro is also an expert in the economics of higher education, and is broadly interested in labor and public economics research.