CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT:
Professor David G. Pearce

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES, M.A.:
Clinical Associate Professor David A. Harper

DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES, PH.D.:
Professor Debraj Ray

The Department of Economics has an international reputation for the quality of its faculty and education. The department’s Ph.D. program trains students to conduct research in the major fields of economics, especially economic theory (including game theory), macroeconomics, international economics, labor economics, development economics, industrial organization, and Austrian economics. Graduates of the Ph.D. program are prepared for research careers in universities, government, and business.

The M.A. program is more applied. It is one of the very few stand-alone master’s programs offered by a top-ten economics department. It is specially tailored to meet the needs of professional economists, government officials, and economic consultants. An increasing number of M.A. students are also using the M.A. degree as groundwork for pursuing graduate programs elsewhere in the United States. The M.A. program may be taken on a full-time or part-time basis. The M.A. program also offers an advanced certificate in economic analysis with specializations in international economics and development economics.

The C. V. Starr Center for Applied Economics provides support for the research activities of the department. The Center organizes conferences, publishes electronic working papers, provides faculty with computer support and research assistance, and hosts visiting academics.

Faculty

Jushan Bai, Professor. Ph.D. 1992 (economics), California (Berkeley); M.A. 1988 (economics), Pennsylvania State; B.S. 1985 (mathematics), Nankai (China).
Econometrics; time series econometrics; empirical finance.

Jess Benhabib, Paulette Goddard Professor of Political Economy. Ph.D. 1976 (economics), M.Phil. 1974 (economics), Columbia; B.A. 1971 (economics), Bosphorus (Istanbul).
Macroeconomics; growth.

Pierpaolo Benigno, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2000 (economics), M.A. 1998, Princeton; Laurea 1995, Bocconi (Milan).
International finance.

Jean-Pierre Benoît, Professor. Ph.D. 1983 (economics), Stanford; B.A. 1978 (math and economics), Yale.
Microeconomics; game theory; industrial organization.

Alberto Bisin, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1993 (economics), M.A. 1990, Chicago; Laurea 1987, Bocconi (Milan).
General equilibrium and growth theory.

Andrew Caplin, Professor. Ph.D. 1983 (economics), Yale; B.A. 1978 (economics), Cambridge.
Economic fluctuations; microeconomic theory; housing market.

Xiaohong Chen, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1993 (economics), California (San Diego); M.A. 1988 (economics), Western Ontario (Canada); B.S. 1986 (mathematics), Wuhan (China).
Economic theory; nonparametric/semiparametric estimation and testing; sieve methods; nonlinear time series; diffusion models; stochastic approximation; adaptive learning.

Diego Comin, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2000 (economics), Harvard; B.A. 1995, Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona).
Macroeconomics.

William Easterly, Professor. Ph.D. 1985 (economics), Massachusetts Institute of Technology; B.A. 1979 (economics and mathematics), Bowling Green.
Economic development; macroeconomics; international economics; political economy.

Jonathan Eaton, Professor. Ph.D. 1976 (economics), M.A. 1973 (economics), Yale; B.A. 1972 (economics), Harvard.
International trade; economic growth; international capital markets.

Raquel Fernández, Professor. Ph.D. 1987 (economics), Columbia; B.A. (magna cum laude) 1981 (economics), Princeton.
International economics; macroeconomics; political economy.

Christopher J. Flinn, Professor. Ph.D. 1984 (economics), Chicago; M.A. 1975 (sociology), Michigan; B.A. 1973 (sociology), Wisconsin.
Labor market dynamics; intrahousehold decision making; applied econometrics.

Guillaume Frechette, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2002 (economics), Ohio State; M.A. 1997 (economics), Queen's University (Canada); B.A. 1996 (economics), McGill.
Experimental economics; industrial organization; political economy; public economics.

Roman Frydman, Professor. Ph.D. 1987 (economics), M.Phil. 1977 (economics), M.A. 1973 (economics), Columbia; M.Sc. 1973 (applied mathematics), New York; B.Sc. 1971 (physics and mathematics), Cooper Union.
Economics and politics of transition; private ownership and corporate governance; imperfect knowledge and market behavior.

Douglas Gale, Professor. Ph.D. 1977 (economics), Cambridge; M.A. 1972 (economics), Carleton; B.Sc. 1970 (economics and mathematics), Trent.
Financial economics; microstructure of markets; foundations of macroeconomics and monetary economics.

Dermot Gately, Professor. Ph.D. 1971 (economics), Princeton; B.S. 1965 (mathematics), Holy Cross College.
Applied microeconomics; energy economics.

Mark Gertler, Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Economics; Chair, Department of Economics; Director, C. V. Starr Center for Applied Economics. Ph.D. 1978 (economics), Stanford; B.A. 1973 (economics), Wisconsin.
Macroeconomic theory; monetary economics; finance.

David A. Harper, Clinical Professor. Ph.D. 1992 (economics), Reading; B.M.S. (honors) 1984 (economics and business administration), Waikato (New Zealand).
Austrian economics; law and economics; entrepreneurship.

Boyan Jovanovic, Professor. Ph.D. 1978 (economics), Chicago; M.S. 1973 (economics), B.S. 1972 (economics), London School of Economics.
Growth and development of nations; macroeconomics; industrial organization.

Harilaos Kitsikopoulos, Clinical Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1994 (economics), New School; B.A. 1984 (economics), Aristotelian (Greece).
Economic history; history of economic thought.

Ricardo Lagos, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1997 (economics), M.A., 1994, Pennsylvania; B.A. 1992, North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
Labor economics.

John Leahy, Professor. Ph.D. 1990 (economics), Princeton; M.S. 1986 (foreign service), Georgetown; B.A. 1984 (history, mathematics, German), Williams College.
Macroeconomics; economic theory.

Marc Lieberman, Clinical Professor. Ph.D. 1982 (economics), M.A. 1979 (economics), Princeton; B.A. 1975 (economics), California (Santa Cruz).
Labor economics; macroeconomics; international finance.

Alessandro Lizzeri, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1995 (managerial economics and decision sciences), Northwestern; Laurea 1990 (economics), Bocconi (Milan).
Industrial organization.

Sydney Ludvigson, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1996 (economics), M.A. 1994 (economics), Princeton; B.A. (summa cum laude) 1991 (economics), California (Los Angeles).
Financial economics; macroeconomics; applied times econometrics.

Virgiliu Midrigan, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2006 (economics), M.A. 2001 (economics), Ohio State; B.A. 2000 (economics), American (Bulgaria).
International economics; macroeconomics; applied economics.

M. Ishaq Nadiri, Jay Gould Professor of Economics. Ph.D. 1965 (economics), M.A. 1961 (economics), California (Berkeley); M.A. 1963 (economics), Yale; B.S. 1958 (economics), Nebraska.
Economics of technology; productivity and economic growth; investment theory and modeling.

Yaw Nyarko, Professor. Ph.D. 1986 (economics), M.A. 1985 (economics), Cornell; B.A. 1982 (economics and mathematics), Ghana.
Game theory; human capital theory; learning theory.

Efe A. Ok, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1995 (economics), M.A. 1993 (economics), Cornell; B.A. 1990 (economics), B.S. 1990 (mathematics), Middle East Technical (Turkey).
Microeconomic theory; welfare economics; public economics.

Janusz A. Ordover, Professor. Ph.D. 1973 (economics), Columbia; M.A. 1968 (economics), McGill; B.A. 1966 (economics), Warsaw.
Industrial organization; antitrust economics and policy; applied microeconomics.

David Pearce, Professor. Ph.D. 1983 (economics), Princeton; M.A. 1979 (economics), Queen’s (Canada); B.A. 1978 (economics), McMaster (Canada).
Game theory; microeconomic theory; rationality.

Jonas Prager, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1964 (economics), Columbia; B.A. 1959 (economics), Yeshiva.
Privatization; banking regulation.

James B. Ramsey, Professor. Ph.D. 1968 (economics), M.A. 1964 (economics), Wisconsin (Madison); B.A. 1963 (mathematics and economics), British Columbia.
Nonlinear dynamics; diffusion and stochastic processes.

Debraj Ray, Professor; Silver Professor. Ph.D. 1983 (economics), M.A. 1981 (economics), Cornell; B.A. 1977 (economics), Calcutta (India).
Game theory; development economics; microeconomic theory.

Mario J. Rizzo, Associate Professor. Ph.D. 1977 (economics), Chicago; M.A. 1973 (economics), B.A. 1970 (economics), Fordham.
Austrian economics; law and economics; microeconomics.

Ariel Rubinstein, Professor. Ph.D. 1979 (economics), M.S. 1976 (mathematics), M.A. 1975 (economics), B.S. 1974 (mathematics, economics, and statistics), Hebrew.
Bounded rationality; game theory.

Thomas J. Sargent, Professor. Ph.D. 1968 (economics), Harvard; B.A. 1964 (economics), California (Berkeley).
Applied time series; macroeconomics; monetary history and policy; macroeconomic theory.

Martin Schneider, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1999 (economics), Stanford; Diplom (economics) 1993, Bonn (Germany).
Macroeconomics; international finance; money and banking.

Andrew Schotter, Professor. Ph.D. 1974 (economics), M.A. 1971 (economics), New York; B.S. 1969 (economics), Cornell.
Experimental economics; game theory; theory of economic institutions.

Ennio Stacchetti, Professor. Ph.D. 1983 (computer sciences), M.S. 1980 (computer sciences), Wisconsin (Madison); Mathematical Engineer 1977, Chile (Santiago).
Game theory; microeconomic theory.

Jörg Stoye, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2005 (economics), M.A. 2001 (economics), Northwestern; M.Sc. 2000 (economics and philosophy), London School of Economics; Diplom 1999 (economics), Cologne (Germany).
Econometrics; decision theory.

Gianluca Violante, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 1997 (economics), M.A. 1994 (economics), Pennsylvania; Laurea 1992 (economics), Torino (Italy).
Macroeconomics; labor economics; applied econometrics.

Charles A. Wilson, Professor. Ph.D. 1976 (economics), Rochester; B.A. 1970 (economics), Miami.
Economic theory; game theory; decision theory.

Matthew Wiswall, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2005 (economics), M.A. 2001 (economics), California (Los Angeles); B.A. 1998 (history), Wisconsin.
Applied microeconomics; applied econometrics; labor economics; economics of education.

Edward Nathan Wolff, Professor. Ph.D. 1974 (economics), M.Phil. 1972 (economics), Yale; B.A. 1968 (economics), Harvard.
Distribution of income and wealth; productivity growth; input-output analysis.

Vivian Zhanwei Yue, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. 2005 (economics), M.A. 2002 (economics), Pennsylvania; B.S. 2000 (economics), Tsinghua (China).
International finance; macroeconomics; applied econometrics.