University of Chicago: Department of Economics

News

Lucas Receives Phoenix Prize

The Division of Social Sciences has announced that Prof. Robert E. Lucas, Jr. will receive the Phoenix Prize in recognition of his outstanding and loyal service to the University of Chicago, and the enormous influence of his work on the field of economics. The Phoenix Prize is the highest honor the Division bestows upon a colleague, awarded periodically "to those who…have changed the trajectory of research in the social sciences and have contributed to the cycle of intellectual renewal across the disciplines." Social Sciences Dean David Nirenberg stated Lucas' research and teaching "have refocused the way we think about the world and [have] enlightened generations of economists." Lucas received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1964 and has been a faculty member since 1973. The prize was previously awarded to James Coleman, Professor in Sociology, in 1994; to Marshall Sahlins, Professor in Anthropology and Sociology, in 1998, and most recently in 2001 to Prof. Gary Becker.

Heckman Receives Madison Medal

Prof. James J. Heckman has been named this year's recipient of the James Madison Medal, Princeton University's highest alumni honor, in recognition of his distinguished scholarship and public service. "[Heckman's] work provides a valuable foundation for policymakers," according to Sanjeev Kulkarni, dean of Princeton's Graduate School; "[his] recent work shows the enormous benefits of investing in early childhood education." Justin Mikolay, president of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni, emphasized that Prof. Heckman "has related his specialized knowledge to more and more general problems, and as a result many others are applying his scholarship for the common good." Read full story.

List and Greenstone Elected Econometric Society Fellows

The Econometric Society welcomes Department of Economics faculty Chair Prof. John List and Prof. Michael Greenstone as newly elected Fellows. Society Executive Vice-President Bernard Salanié calls their election a "fitting recognition of [their] highly regarded contributions to Economics." The Econometric Society is an international organization for the advancement of economic theory in its relation to statistics and mathematics.

Moll Wins EIB Young Economist Award

Our congratulations to Benjamin Moll (Econ, PhD'10), this year's recipient of the European Investment Bank's Young Economist Award. Moll, currently Assistant Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton, will present a keynote lecture and receive the prize this November at the EIB Economics of Inequality and Economic Growth Awards Ceremony in Luxembourg.

List Named 2015 Thomson Reuters Nobel "Pick"

We are proud to announce that Department Chair John List has been named a 2015 Thomson Reuters Citation Laureate for his contributions to the field of economics. The international news and information organization grants the honor to highlight the significance of the scholar's work in the scientific community, based upon the number of times fellow researchers have chosen to cite their published papers. Importantly, Citation Laureates are commonly known as Thomson Reuters "Picks" for the Nobel Prize, in recognition of the frequency with which honorees become future Nobel recipients. Read full story.

Greenstone: Cleaner Air Leads to Longer Lives

In a New York Times editorial, Michael Greenstone argues that reductions in smog and air pollution over the past 45 years in the wake of the Clean Air Act have been a primary cause of increased life expectancies in the United States - a 2 year average increase for residents of New York and Chicago, and in the case of one metropolitan area in Ohio/West Virginia, as much as 5 years. Greenstone's research team recently compared pollution and mortality rates between the North and South of China, obtaining US results by applying the formula to E.P.A. airborne particulate matter data from 1970 to 2012. Read full story. View infographic.

Deshpande to Receive APPAM PhD Award

The Economics Department congratulates Manasi Deshpande, who will join our department as an Assistant Professor on July 1, 2016, on being named this year's recipient of the APPAM PhD Dissertation Award, which honors emergent scholars in the field of public policy and management. Dr. Deshpande will receive the award at the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)’s 2015 Fall Research Conference in Miami, FL. Read full story.

Hortaçsu and Syverson: Warehouse Clubs Outpacing E-Commerce

In a new NBER working paper, Ali Hortaçsu and Chad Syverson find that warehouse clubs experienced a greater growth rate over the past two decades than did online shopping. Using Census Bureau data to compare relative size and growth trajectories in the sector, they found that while e-commerce grew tenfold - from $35 billion in sales in 1992 to $348 billion in 2013 - during that same period, the warehouse club industry grew from $40 billion to $420 billion, an even greater 10.5-fold increase. Read full story.

List Named NPT 'Power & Influence Top 50' Innovator

The Economics Department is proud to announce Chairman Prof. John List has been named one of the NonProfit Times Power & Influence Top 50 Innovators, "exemplify[ing] what happens when people stand firmly for inclusion and equal rights, whether it is in healthcare, public policy, education or opportunity for all," according to NPT Vice President and Editorial Director Paul Clolery. List was cited for his work as Principal Investigator for the Science of Philanthropy Initiative, which NPT describes as "a donor Manhattan Project...[with] the potential to be some of the sector's most important academic work." This year's honorees were selected from a group of roughly 300 top executives, who "made decisions every day that changed lives for the better." Prof. List will be among those commended in Washington, D.C., in September during the annual NPT Power & Influence Top 50 Gala at The National Press Club.

Economics Department Welcomes New Faculty Members

We are pleased to announce that we have attracted our largest cohort of new Assistant Professors. Ufuk Akcigit (MIT), Manasi Deshpande (MIT), Michael Dinerstein (Stanford), Thibaut Lamadon (UCL), Doron Ravid (Princeton), and Lawrence Schmidt (UCSD) will be joining us as Assistant Professors in the Department of Economics and the College. Read full story.

Reny Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Professor Philip J. Reny, the William C. Norby Professor in Economics and in the College, is one of this year's newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies. Among his most important contributions are his results on the existence of Nash equilibrium in discontinuous games and his work on information aggregation in double auctions. Read full story.

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