UChicago News

Harris School, Economics graduate students organize conference on early childhood

Sarah Galer — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40 -0500

On April 20 and 21, leading thinkers on early childhood development gathered at the University of Chicago to discuss a wide range of current research and its global implications, a culmination of two years of work by a group of driven UChicago graduate students.

An inspiration for the event’s content came from a yearlong series of workshops led by Nobel laureate James Heckman, who has pioneered the economic study of...

Larry Sjaastad, scholar of international economics, 1934-2012

William Harms — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:12 -0500

Larry Sjaastad, professor emeritus of economics and a leading expert on trade in Latin America, died May 2. A resident of Hyde Park, he was 77.

Sjaastad made fundamental contributions to economics across a wide spectrum of topics including public finance, international economics and exchange rate theory.

“Larry’s teaching and the bonds he made with students have had a huge effect in Latin America,” said Jorge Garcia-Garcia, PhD’75, a senior evaluation...

Four UChicago scholars receive Guggenheim fellowships

Allan Friedman — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:52 -0500

Four UChicago scholars—Alison Bechdel, John H. Cochrane, Adrian Johns, and Don Kulick—have been named 2012 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellows. They are among 181 diverse scholars, artists and scientists selected this year in the 88th annual competition for the United States and Canada.

Chosen from a group of almost 3,000 candidates, the recipients have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the...

Chicago Booth, Nielsen collaborate on consumer research initiative

Allan Friedman — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:00 -0500

The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Nielsen, a global leader in measurement and information, on April 5 announced plans to offer comprehensive historical perspective on consumer purchases to all United States-based academic researchers.

“This will start a revolution in terms of the research we do as marketers and the insight we gain into consumer behavior,”...

Economic policy forum with Mitt Romney focuses on government’s role in economy

Susie Allen — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:45 -0500

The Harris School of Public Policy Studies hosted presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday, March 19 for a forum on economic policy, with a focus on how government should approach issues of taxes and business regulation.

Romney’s economic address was part of an ongoing series organized by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy Studies, titled Presidency 2012: The...

Mitt Romney to speak at Chicago Harris forum on the presidency

Jeremy Manier — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 12:45 -0500

The Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago will host presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Monday, March 19, for an address on economic policy.

Romney’s appearance is part of a series of forums hosted at Chicago Harris, titled Presidency 2012: The Purposes of Government. The non-partisan...

Prof. John List recruits researchers to teach south suburban eighth-graders about economics

William Harms — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:04 -0500

As two researchers in an economics project at UChicago looked on via videoconference, a class of south suburban eighth-graders took turns coming to a microphone to explain what the expression “opportunity costs” meant to them.

“I went shopping on Saturday and I bought Nike shoes, but I had to give up buying a hoodie,” explained one girl in a class designed to help them learn the principles of economics.

“I went to a friends house and...

Study finds lure of entertainment, work hard for people to resist

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:30 -0500

Trying to resist that late-night tweet or checking your work email again? The bad news is that desires for work and entertainment often win out in the daily struggle for self-control, according to a new study that measures various desires and their regulation in daily life.

“Modern life is a welter of assorted desires marked by frequent conflict and resistance, the latter with uneven success,” said...

Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan and Axel Weber appointed to G30

Allan Friedman — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:23 -0500

Raghuram Rajan and Axel Weber, faculty members at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, have been appointed to the Group of Thirty, an international body that examines the impact of financial and economic decisions in the public and private sectors.

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Two Chicago Booth professors win Kauffman Prize for entrepreneurship research

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:00 -0500

Erik Hurst and Tobias Moskowitz, professors at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, received the 2012 Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research...