News and Announcements
President Biden nominates three new Federal Reserve officials, including Berkeley Economics PhD alum Lisa Cook, an economist at Michigan State University who has researched racial disparities and labor markets. Dr. Cook was an economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama. Read more
Photo credit: Brittany Greeson for The New York Times
Ben Hermalin is announced as UC Berkeley’s new executive vice chancellor and provost. Professor Hermalin joined the economics department in 1988 and served as its chair in 2005-2008. For the past five years, he served as vice provost for the faculty. Read more
Photo by Brittany Hosea-Small
Does alleviating a worker's financial strain allow them to better focus at work and therefore be more productive? Watch this video highlighting a 2021 working paper by Supreet Kaur, Sendhil Mullainathan, Suanna Oh, and Frank Schilbach. Watch the video
In the 4th episode of EconoFact Chats, EconoFact’s Executive Editor Michael Klein interviews Maurice Obstfeld, Professor at U.C. Berkeley and the immediate past Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund, on fiscal policy and the state of the economy. Listen to the podcast
The Past, Present, and Future of Globalization: Tune in to an episode of the Econofact podcast, in which Michael Klein speaks with Maurice Obstfeld, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in international economics, on the tensions between globalization and economic nationalism – the historical context, current challenges, and the prospects for the future. Listen to the podcast
Research and Teaching
A new article by by Ellora Derenoncourt, Claire Montialoux, published in the The Quarterly Journal of Economics, February 202. Minimum Wages and Racial Inequality. The earnings difference between white and black workers fell dramatically in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This article shows that the expansion of the minimum wage played a critical role in this decline. Read more
New paper by Kimberly Clausing, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman: Ending corporate tax avoidance and tax competition: a plan to collect the tax deficit of multinationals. Read the paper
A new paper by Isabel Z. Martinez, Emmanuel Saez, and Michael Siegenthaler estimates intertemporal labor supply responses to two-year long income tax holidays staggered across Swiss cantons. Read more
Through analysis of the Band for International Settlements (BIS) Annual Economic Reports, Professor Barry Eichengreen traces the BIS’s views on exchange rates, capital flows and financial cycles in a new book. Read more
An innovative experiment in rural India targeted alleviating financial stress on short-term workers and fascinatingly, found a substantial increase in productivity for workers who have their financial strain eased by receiving part of their salary mid-way through their contract. By Berkeley Economics Professor Supreet Kaur. Read more
We're proud to share that Berkeley Economics professors Emi Nakamura and Chris Shannon were elected to join The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals in academia, the arts, business, government,and public affairs. Congratulations! To learn more about their work and of all UC Berkeley faculty members elected, read more.
