Department of Economics

Department of Economics

Founded in 1903, our department is well-known for the excellence of its teaching and advising, with a strong reputation for producing outstanding Ph.D. graduates, as well as rigorous and innovative economic research. We are consistently ranked among the world’s leading departments.

On the forefront in research

The impact Berkeley faculty have had on various fields of economics has been enormous. Our department is currently at the forefront of many exciting new developments in economics:

5 Nobel Prizes
5 John Bates Clark Medals
2 MacArthur Foundation Fellows
25 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships (an average of one per year since 1995)
1 Fisher-Black Prize

Excellence in Teaching

Carol D. Soc Distinguished Graduate Student Mentoring Award: Professor David Card (2017); Professor Edward Miguel (2015).
Division of Social Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award: Professor Martha Olney (2016); Professor David Romer (2014).
Campus: Distinguished Teaching Award: Professor Ulrike Malmendier (2015)

Our roster just got bigger

This year we are pleased to add Professors Emi Nakamura and Jon Steinsson to our dynamic and diverse faculty.

Recent faculty hires include Dmitry Taubinsky and Supreet Kaur.

News and Announcements

Congratulations to Berkeley Economics student Will Alexander '20, for winning the Owen D. Young Prize in International Relations. The award is awarded for the best essay on international relations. Read about the award here.

A new NBER Working Paper by Berkeley Economics professors Christina Romer and David Romer shows that countries with lower debt-to-GDP ratios respond to financial distress with much more expansionary fiscal policy & suffer much less severe aftermaths, driven more by policymaker choices than true debt constraints. Read more

NPR's Planet Money episode "Economics, Sexism, Data" discusses a study by Berkeley Economics undergrad Alice Wu, which uncovered rampant bias in the Economics Job Market Rumors forum. Listen to the podcast here.

Congratulations to the winners of the undergraduate and graduate annual awards. View the list of award-winning students here.

Congratulations of Berkeley Economics Professor David Card who has been nominated to be the President of American Economic Association (AEA). Read More

On Cal Day 2019, Professor Zucman presented on the topic of "Globalization, Taxes, and Inequality" to an audience of students and their families as well as the broader Berkeley community. View Video

Research and Teaching

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.

We're thrilled to share that Berkeley Economics Prof. Emi Nakamura has been announced as the 2019 recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal! The prize is awarded to an American economist under the age of forty who is judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. Read more

Congratulations to Berkeley Economics professors, Philpp Strack and Gabriel Zucman, for winning the prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship! Read more.

Berkeley Economics Professor Yuri Gorodnichenko has been awarded 2018 Monetary Economics and Finance Prize, which distinguish researchers who have developed central concepts to improve our understanding of Monetary Economics and Finance. Read more

Economics Professors Supreet Kaur and Danny Yagan have been awarded 2018 Sloan Fellowships, which “honor early-career scholars whose achievements mark them as among the very best scientific minds working today."