MIT Department of Economics : Faculty and Staff : Faculty and Staff

Faculty and Staff

In the News: Recent Research

What Happens When Wal-Mart Comes to Town: An Empirical Analysis of the Discount Industry
Panle Jia, forthcoming, Econometrica.

Inefficient Credit Booms
Guido Lorenzoni, forthcoming, Review of Economic Studies.

Liquidity and Insurance for the Unemployed
Ivan Werning and Robert Shimer, forthcoming, American Economic Review.

An Equilibrium Model of Global Imbalances and Low Interest Rates
Ricardo Caballero, Emmanuel Farhi, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, forthcoming in March 2008 issue of the American Economic Review.

Does Job Testing Harm Minority Workers? Evidence from Retail Establishments.
David Autor and David Scarborough Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 2008.

Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on U.S. Electric Generation Efficiency
Nancy L. Rose, Kira R. Fabrizio and Catherine D. Wolfram, American Economic Review, September 2007.

Equilibrium Bias of Technology
Daron Acemoglu, Econometrica, September 2007.

Estimation and Confidence Regions for Parameter Sets in Econometric Models
Victor Chernozhukov, Han Hong, and Elie Tamer, Econometrica September 2007.

The Economic Lives of the Poor
Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2007.

Department Faculty

Back to Top

Daron Acemoglu
Ph.D., London School of Economics
Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics
Research Interests: Human capital; wage inequality; unemployment; search theory; economic growth.

George-Marios Angeletos
Ph.D., Harvard University
Associate Professor, Macroeconomics
Research Interests: Heterogeneous information and expectations; global games; self-fulfilling crises; business cycles; incomplete markets; fiscal and monetary policy.

Joshua Angrist
Ph.D., Princeton University
Professor, Labor Economics
Research Interests: Human capital, schooling, and the economics of the family; applied econometrics; evaluation research methodology; program and policy evaluation.

David Autor
Ph.D., Harvard University
Associate Professor, Labor Economics
Research Interests: Human capital, skills training, and earnings inequality; "Contingent" and flexible work arrangements; Labor market impacts of technological change; Consequences of employment protection.

Abhijit Banerjee
Ph.D., Harvard University
Ford International Professor of Economics, Applied Theory and Development Economics
Research Interests: Economic development, income distribution, evolutionary games, "herd behavior" in financial and other markets, a theory of misgovernance.

Olivier J. Blanchard
Ph.D., MIT
Class of 1941 Professor, Macroeconomics
Research Interests: Transition in Eastern Europe. Unemployment in Western Europe. Self-fulfilling macroeconomic crises. Fiscal policy.

Ricardo Caballero
Ph.D., MIT
Ford International Professor of Economics, Macroeconomics and International Finance
Research Interests: Frictions in financial and labor markets, emerging markets, incomplete markets and insurance, speculative bubbles, restructuring, investment.

Victor Chernozhukov
Ph.D., Stanford University
Associate Professor, Econometrics
Research Interests: Econometric theory; Financial econometrics.

Peter Diamond
Ph.D., MIT
Institute Professor, Theory, Public Finance and Macroeconomics
Research Interests: Social insurance, especially U.S. Social Security, the interface between psychology and economics.

Esther Duflo
Ph.D., MIT
Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics
Research Interests: Human resources in developing countries; educational choice; returns to education in Indonesia; nutrition in South Africa; industrial organization in developing countries; reputation effects; credit constraints.

Glenn Ellison
Ph.D., MIT
Gregory K. Palm (1970) Professor, Economic Theory and Industrial Organization
Research Interests: Game theory, industrial organization, learning, large population and spatial models, technology adoption, geographic concentration of industries, mutual funds.

Sara F. Ellison
Ph.D., MIT
Senior Lecturer - Econometrics, Industrial Organization, Political Economy
Research Interests: Industrial organization, applied econometrics, political economy, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, event study methodology.

Amy Finkelstein
Ph.D., MIT
Associate Professor, Public Economics
Research Interests: Public Finance, Health Economics, Industrial Organization

Robert Gibbons
Ph.D., Stanford University
Sloan Distinguished Professor of Organizational Economics and Strategy.
Research Interests: Organizational design and performance, relational contracts within and between firms, human resource management.

Mikhail Golosov
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Rudi Dornbusch Career Development Assistant Professor, Macroeconomics and Public Finance
Research Interests: Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomics, Incomplete Markets, Social Insurance.

Michael Greenstone
Ph.D., Princeton
3M Professor of Environmental Economics, Public Economics, Labor Economics
Research Interests: Impacts of environmental regulation; valuation of clean air; economics costs of climate change; regulation of financial market; infant health.

Jonathan Gruber, Associate Department Head
Ph.D., Harvard
Professor, Public Finance
Research Interests: Access to health care and health care outcomes; the market for, and the effects of employer-provided health insurance; the impact of Social Security systems on retirement decisions; economic analysis of risky behaviors by youth, particularly smoking.

Jeffrey Harris
M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Professor, Health Economics.
Research Interests: Economics of the tobacco industry; Economics of AIDS.

Jerry Hausman
D.Phil., Oxford
John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor, Econometrics and Public Finance
Research Interests: Econometric studies in public finance, financial economics, and telecommunications, research in use of flexible specifications for econometric models.

Bengt Holmström
Ph.D., Stanford
Paul A. Samuelson Professor, Economic Theory
Research Interests: Contracting, incentives, theory of organization, corporate finance.

Sergei. Izmalkov
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University
Assistant Professor, Applied Theory
Research Interests: Game Theory, auctions, industrial organization.

Panle Jia
Ph.D., Yale
Assistant Professor, Industrial Organization
Research Interests: Industrial organization, applied econometrics, applied microeconomics.

Paul Joskow
Ph.D., Yale
Elizabeth & James Killian Professor, Industrial Organization & Regulation
Research Interests: Regulatory and structural reform in the electricity sector, economic performance of emission permit trading systems, privatization in developing countries, the political economy of deregulation.

Guido Lorenzoni
Ph.D., MIT
Assistant Professor, Macroeconomics and International Economics
Research Interests: Business cycles, financial market frictions, international capital markets and crises.

Anna Mikusheva
Ph.D., Harvard
Assistant Professor, Econometrics
Research Interests: Econometric Theory, Time Series Econometrics

Whitney Newey
Ph.D., MIT
Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carton Professor, Econometrics
Research Interests: Theoretical and applied econometrics, improved approximations for inference, especially bootstrapping, and semiparametric models, efficient bootstrapping, choosing the number of instrumental variables, and nonparametric estimation of models with nonlinear budget sets, with applications to labor supply.

Michael Piore
Ph.D., Harvard
David W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy
Research Interests: The response of business organizations, trade unions, and government to the growing decentralization which they perceive as a response to changing technology

James Poterba, Department Head
D.Phil., Oxford
Mitsui Professor, Public Finance & Corporate Finance
Research Interests: Economics of taxation and government spending programs; taxation and personal financial behavior; household portfolio behavior.

Drazen Prelec
Ph.D., Harvard
Digital Equipment Corporation LFM Professor of Management
Research Interests: Psychology, Decision Theory, Behavioral Economics, Neuroeconomics.

Nancy Rose
Ph.D., MIT
Professor, Industrial Organization
Research Interests: Firm behavior and industry performance, the impact of government regulation, executive compensation.

Stephen Ross
Ph.D., Harvard
Franco Modigliani Professor of Finance and Economics
Research Interests: Economics of uncertainty, corporate finance, decision theory and financial econometrics.

Stephen Ryan
Ph.D., Duke
Assistant Professor, Industrial Organization
Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Finance, Econometrics

Richard Schmalensee
Ph.D., MIT
Gordon Y Billard Professor, Industrial Economics
Research Interests: Industrial organization, microeconomics, antitrust and government regulation, energy and environmental economics and policy, implications for management decisions, public policy, and government/business relations.

James Snyder
Ph.D., Cal. Tech.
Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor, Political Economy, American Politics, Formal Political Theory
Research Interests: Empirical and theoretical studies of campaign finance in U.S. Congressional elections and U.S. state elections. Models of electoral competition between political parties. Empirical studies of issue positions and the incumbency advantage in U.S. Congressional elections.

Peter Temin
Ph.D., MIT
Elisha Gray II Professor, Economic History and Applied Economics
Research Interests: Inter-war and post-World War Two periods in the United States, Europe, and Russia, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. Defense of indirect democracy, rational debate leads to one-dimensional conflict, credit markets and information transmission.

Lester Thurow
Ph.D., Harvard
Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management & Economics
Research Interests: China, human resource management, Japan, oil industry, Pakistan, retailing, telecommunications industry.

Iván Werning
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Associate Professor, Macroeconomics
Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Public Economics, Applications of Dynamic Contracts, Optimal Taxation, Monetary Policy, Unemployment Insurance Design.

William Wheaton
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Professor, Urban Economics
Research Interests: Studying the efficiency of urban land markets in the matching of buyers and sellers, and the location decisions of jobs and residences. Also examining the cyclic behavior of real estate, the economic competition between regions for economic growth, and the provision of state and local public services.

Muhamet Yildiz
Ph.D., Stanford
Pentti J.K. Kouri Career Development Associate Professor, Theory
Research Interests: Game theory; Bargaining

In Memoriam

Back to Top

E. Cary Brown
Ph.D., Harvard
Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Rudiger Dornbusch
Ph.D., Chicago
Ford International Professor, International Economics

Charles P. Kindleberger
Ph.D., Columbia
Ford International Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Franco Modigliani
D. Jur.,Rome and D. Soc. Sci., New School of Research
Institute Professor Emeritus; Professor of Finance & Economics

Affiliated Faculty

Back to Top

Mathias Dewatripont
Ph.D., Harvard
Annual Visiting Professor

Ernst Fehr
Ph.D., University of Vienna
Annual Visiting Professor

Jean Tirole
Ph.D., MIT
Annual Visiting Professor

Associated Teaching Faculty

Back to Top

Alice H. Amsden
Ph.D. London School of Economics; Barton L Weller Professor of Political Economy, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Suzanne Berger
Ph.D., Harvard
Raphael Dorman and Helen Starbuck Professor of Political Science, MIT Department of Political Science.

Ernst Berndt
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Louis B. Seley Professor of Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Rebecca M. Henderson
Ph.D., Harvard
Eastman Kodak Leaders for Manufacturing Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Richard Holden
Ph.D., Harvard University
Assistant Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Leonid Kogan
Ph.D., MIT
Associate Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Frank Levy
Ph.D., Yale
Daniel Rose Professor of Urban Economics.

Andrew Lo
Ph.D., Harvard
Harris and Harris Group Professor; Professor of Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Anne McCants
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Professor of History, MIT Department of History.

Stewart C. Myers
Ph.D., Stanford
Robert C. Merton (1970) Professor of Financial Economics , MIT Sloan School of Management.

Drazen Prelec
Ph.D., Harvard
Digital Equipment Corp. Leaders for Manufacturing Professor of Management, Professor of Management Science, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Roberto Rigobon
Ph.D., MIT
Associate Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Antoinette Schoar
Ph.D., Chicago
Michael M. Koerner (1949) Professsor of Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School of Management.

Jiang Wang
Ph.D., Pennsylvania
Mizuho Financial Group Professor; MIT Sloan School of Management

Professors Emeriti

Back to Top

Morris Adelman
Ph.D., Harvard
Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Sidney Alexander
Ph.D., Harvard
Professor of Economics and Management, Emeritus

Robert L. Bishop
Ph.D., Harvard
Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Richard S. Eckaus
Ph.D., MIT
Ford International Professor of Economics, Emeritus
eckaus@mit.edu

Frank Fisher
Ph.D. Harvard
Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor

Stanley Fischer
Ph.D., MIT
Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Jerome Rothenberg
Ph.D., Columbia
Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Paul A. Samuelson
Ph.D., Harvard
Institute Professor, Emeritus; Professor of Economics, Emeritus; Gordon Y. Billard Fellow

Abraham J. Seigel
Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley
Howard W. Johnson Professor of Management, Emeritus

Robert M. Solow
Ph.D., Harvard
Institute Professor, Emeritus; Professor of Economics, Emeritus

Visiting Faculty

Back to Top

Francesco Giavazzi (Spring 2008)
Ph.D., MIT
Visiting Professor

Lorenze F. Goette (Fall 2007)
Ph.D., University of Zurich
Visiting Professor

Kiminori Matsuyama (Spring 2008)
Ph.D., Harvard
University Visiting Professor

Mark Rysman (Academic Year 2008)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Visiting Associate Professor

Yuliy Sannikov (Fall 2007)
Ph.D., Stanford
Visiting Assistant Professor

Robert Triest (Spring 2008)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin
Visiting Professor

Robert Townsend (Academic Year 2008)
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Visiting Professor

Paul Willen (Fall 2007)
Ph.D., Yale University
Visiting Associate Professor

Staff

Back to Top

Mark Begley
Systems Analyst

Peter Hoagland
Graduate Program Administrator

Gary King
Undergraduate Program Administrator

Mark Leary
Systems Manager

Lisa DesForge
Administrative Officer

Loida Morales
Financial Coordinator

Support Staff

Back to Top

John Arditi
Administrative Assistant
Professors Blanchard, Caballero, Diamond and Poterba

Theresa Benevento
Administrative Assistant
Professors Fisher, Jia, Joskow, and Rose

Pat Burnett
Office Assistant
Department Assistant

Jessica Colón
Senior Administrative Assistant
Department Head and Administrative Officer

Lauren Fahey
Administrative Assistant
Professors Acemoglu and Autor

Emily Gallagher
Administrative Assistant
Professors Chernozhukov, Mikusheva, Newey, Temin, and Tirole

Cherisse Haakonsen
Administrative Assistant
Professors Dewatripont, G. Ellison, Fehr, Finkelstein, Pathak and Ryan

Tosha Hairston
Administrative Assistant
Professors Banerjee and Duflo

Deborah Jamiol
Administrative Assistant
Professors Banerjee, Elliot, Gabaix, Holmström and Piore

Administrative Assistant
Administrative Assistant
Professors Costa, Gemery, Golosov, Harris, Olken and Townsend

Mary R. Meehan
Office Assistant
Department Assistant

Janice Murray
Administrative Assistant
Professors Samuelson and Solow

Malinda Nicolosi
Administrative Assistant
Professors Angrist, Gruber, and Sannikov

Caitlin Pike
Assistant to the Graduate Administrator

Kim Scantlebury
Administrative Assistant
Professors Eckaus, Hausman, Izmalkov, Rysman, Wheaton, and Yildiz

Linda Woodbury
Administrative Assistant
Professors Angeletos, S. Ellison, Goette, Lorenzoni, and Werning

	Daron Acemoglu Ph.D., London School of Economics Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics Research Interests: Human capital; wage inequality; unemployment; search theory; economic growth.
	George-Marios Angeletos Ph.D., Harvard University Associate Professor, Macroeconomics Research Interests: Heterogeneous information and expectations; global games; self-fulfilling crises; business cycles; incomplete markets; fiscal and monetary policy.
	Joshua Angrist Ph.D., Princeton University Professor, Labor Economics Research Interests: Human capital, schooling, and the economics of the family; applied econometrics; evaluation research methodology; program and policy evaluation.
	David Autor Ph.D., Harvard University Associate Professor, Labor Economics Research Interests: Human capital, skills training, and earnings inequality; "Contingent" and flexible work arrangements; Labor market impacts of technological change; Consequences of employment protection.
	Abhijit Banerjee Ph.D., Harvard University Ford International Professor of Economics, Applied Theory and Development Economics Research Interests: Economic development, income distribution, evolutionary games, "herd behavior" in financial and other markets, a theory of misgovernance.
	Olivier J. Blanchard Ph.D., MIT Class of 1941 Professor, Macroeconomics Research Interests: Transition in Eastern Europe. Unemployment in Western Europe. Self-fulfilling macroeconomic crises. Fiscal policy.
	Ricardo Caballero Ph.D., MIT Ford International Professor of Economics, Macroeconomics and International Finance Research Interests: Frictions in financial and labor markets, emerging markets, incomplete markets and insurance, speculative bubbles, restructuring, investment.
	Victor Chernozhukov Ph.D., Stanford University Associate Professor, Econometrics Research Interests: Econometric theory; Financial econometrics.
	Peter Diamond Ph.D., MIT Institute Professor, Theory, Public Finance and Macroeconomics Research Interests: Social insurance, especially U.S. Social Security, the interface between psychology and economics.
	Esther Duflo Ph.D., MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics Research Interests: Human resources in developing countries; educational choice; returns to education in Indonesia; nutrition in South Africa; industrial organization in developing countries; reputation effects; credit constraints.
	Glenn Ellison Ph.D., MIT Gregory K. Palm (1970) Professor, Economic Theory and Industrial Organization Research Interests: Game theory, industrial organization, learning, large population and spatial models, technology adoption, geographic concentration of industries, mutual funds.
	Sara F. Ellison Ph.D., MIT Senior Lecturer - Econometrics, Industrial Organization, Political Economy Research Interests: Industrial organization, applied econometrics, political economy, pharmaceuticals, e-commerce, event study methodology.
	Amy Finkelstein Ph.D., MIT Associate Professor, Public Economics Research Interests: Public Finance, Health Economics, Industrial Organization
	Robert Gibbons Ph.D., Stanford University Sloan Distinguished Professor of Organizational Economics and Strategy. Research Interests: Organizational design and performance, relational contracts within and between firms, human resource management.
	Mikhail Golosov Ph.D., University of Minnesota Rudi Dornbusch Career Development Assistant Professor, Macroeconomics and Public Finance Research Interests: Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Macroeconomics, Incomplete Markets, Social Insurance.
	Michael Greenstone Ph.D., Princeton 3M Professor of Environmental Economics, Public Economics, Labor Economics Research Interests: Impacts of environmental regulation; valuation of clean air; economics costs of climate change; regulation of financial market; infant health.
	Jonathan Gruber, Associate Department Head Ph.D., Harvard Professor, Public Finance Research Interests: Access to health care and health care outcomes; the market for, and the effects of employer-provided health insurance; the impact of Social Security systems on retirement decisions; economic analysis of risky behaviors by youth, particularly smoking.
	Jeffrey Harris M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Professor, Health Economics. Research Interests: Economics of the tobacco industry; Economics of AIDS.
	Jerry Hausman D.Phil., Oxford John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor, Econometrics and Public Finance Research Interests: Econometric studies in public finance, financial economics, and telecommunications, research in use of flexible specifications for econometric models.
	Bengt Holmström Ph.D., Stanford Paul A. Samuelson Professor, Economic Theory Research Interests: Contracting, incentives, theory of organization, corporate finance.
	Sergei. Izmalkov Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University Assistant Professor, Applied Theory Research Interests: Game Theory, auctions, industrial organization.
	Panle Jia Ph.D., Yale Assistant Professor, Industrial Organization Research Interests: Industrial organization, applied econometrics, applied microeconomics.
	Paul Joskow Ph.D., Yale Elizabeth & James Killian Professor, Industrial Organization & Regulation Research Interests: Regulatory and structural reform in the electricity sector, economic performance of emission permit trading systems, privatization in developing countries, the political economy of deregulation.
	Guido Lorenzoni Ph.D., MIT Assistant Professor, Macroeconomics and International Economics Research Interests: Business cycles, financial market frictions, international capital markets and crises.
	Anna Mikusheva Ph.D., Harvard Assistant Professor, Econometrics Research Interests: Econometric Theory, Time Series Econometrics
	Whitney Newey Ph.D., MIT Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carton Professor, Econometrics Research Interests: Theoretical and applied econometrics, improved approximations for inference, especially bootstrapping, and semiparametric models, efficient bootstrapping, choosing the number of instrumental variables, and nonparametric estimation of models with nonlinear budget sets, with applications to labor supply.
	Michael Piore Ph.D., Harvard David W. Skinner Professor of Political Economy Research Interests: The response of business organizations, trade unions, and government to the growing decentralization which they perceive as a response to changing technology
	James Poterba, Department Head D.Phil., Oxford Mitsui Professor, Public Finance & Corporate Finance Research Interests: Economics of taxation and government spending programs; taxation and personal financial behavior; household portfolio behavior.
	Drazen Prelec Ph.D., Harvard Digital Equipment Corporation LFM Professor of Management Research Interests: Psychology, Decision Theory, Behavioral Economics, Neuroeconomics.
	Nancy Rose Ph.D., MIT Professor, Industrial Organization Research Interests: Firm behavior and industry performance, the impact of government regulation, executive compensation.
	Stephen Ross Ph.D., Harvard Franco Modigliani Professor of Finance and Economics Research Interests: Economics of uncertainty, corporate finance, decision theory and financial econometrics.
	Stephen Ryan Ph.D., Duke Assistant Professor, Industrial Organization Research Interests: Industrial Organization, Finance, Econometrics
	Richard Schmalensee Ph.D., MIT Gordon Y Billard Professor, Industrial Economics Research Interests: Industrial organization, microeconomics, antitrust and government regulation, energy and environmental economics and policy, implications for management decisions, public policy, and government/business relations.
	James Snyder Ph.D., Cal. Tech. Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor, Political Economy, American Politics, Formal Political Theory Research Interests: Empirical and theoretical studies of campaign finance in U.S. Congressional elections and U.S. state elections. Models of electoral competition between political parties. Empirical studies of issue positions and the incumbency advantage in U.S. Congressional elections.
	Peter Temin Ph.D., MIT Elisha Gray II Professor, Economic History and Applied Economics Research Interests: Inter-war and post-World War Two periods in the United States, Europe, and Russia, telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries. Defense of indirect democracy, rational debate leads to one-dimensional conflict, credit markets and information transmission.
	Lester Thurow Ph.D., Harvard Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management & Economics Research Interests: China, human resource management, Japan, oil industry, Pakistan, retailing, telecommunications industry.
	Iván Werning Ph.D., University of Chicago Associate Professor, Macroeconomics Research Interests: Macroeconomics, Public Economics, Applications of Dynamic Contracts, Optimal Taxation, Monetary Policy, Unemployment Insurance Design.
	William Wheaton Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Professor, Urban Economics Research Interests: Studying the efficiency of urban land markets in the matching of buyers and sellers, and the location decisions of jobs and residences. Also examining the cyclic behavior of real estate, the economic competition between regions for economic growth, and the provision of state and local public services.
	Muhamet Yildiz Ph.D., Stanford Pentti J.K. Kouri Career Development Associate Professor, Theory Research Interests: Game theory; Bargaining