Pablo Fajgelbaum has been named as a 2017 Sloan Fellow, one of eight economists nationwide. Professor Fajgelbaum specializes in international trade. His recent research includes the distributional effects of international trade, the impact of regional tax policies, and optimal transport networks in general-equilibrium trade models. His teaches international trade theory at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The […]
In the second MAE Distinguished Speaker Lecture, Professor Richard Blundell of University College London talked about “Empirical Evidence and Tax Reform” The lecture’s starting point was the Mirrlees Review that brought together a high-profile group of international experts to identify the characteristics of a good tax system for any developed economy in the 21st century. Professor Blundell described a broad […]
A long-standing question in Economics is whether differences in performance across firms can be explained by differences in management practices, especially in developing countries where the spread between the best and worst firms is particularly large. Two major constraints have limited research on this topic. First, firms endogenously decide whether to adopt management practices, so […]
The winner of the Warren C. Scoville Distinguished Teaching Award for Fall 2016 is Simon Board. Professor Board teaches Econ 106T: The Economics of e-Commerce and Technology. The class uses tools from game theory to study business strategy, including topics such as platform markets, innovation and reputation. The course then uses these insights to discuss recent […]
Jerry Hausman, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at MIT, gave the inaugural Lecture of the Masters in Applied Economics Distinguished Speakers Series. The talk was entitled “Future Productivity: Pessimistic and Optimistic Viewpoints” and discussed the future evolution of productivity. Professor Hausman spoke about the changing roles of human and intellectual capital, and […]
The following is from the San Diego Tribune Trump policies not good for growth, says UCLA economist On the eve of inauguration day, UCLA economist Lee Ohanian told a local audience Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s policies may not achieve his desired levels of economic growth and job gains. Speaking to the San Diego Regional […]
In a recent study by economist Raj Chetty and coauthors ranks UCLA at #1 in their economic mobility index. In particular, 19.2% of UCLA students come from the bottom 40% of the income distribution, and 8.3% from the bottom 20%, more than any other elite university. See the New York Times article and the mobility statistics on UCLA
A commonly held view is that adverse macroeconomic shocks are greatly amplified when firms are financially unsound. For example a large adverse macroeconomic shock will trigger the bankruptcy of highly levered firms. When it does not trigger bankruptcies, this shock will create a debt overhang amongst highly levered firms, slowing down investment. A related amplification […]
This weekend the department hosted a conference in honor of Hugo Hopenhayn. Since receiving his Ph.D. from Minnesota, Professor Hopenhayn has made fundamental contributions to industrial organization, macroeconomics and finance. Professor Hopenhayn is perhaps best known for his work on the evolution of industries, where he has provided elegant, tractable and quantitatively accurate models of […]
It is well known that income inequality in the United States has risen substantially since the early 1980s. However, the sources of the ongoing rise in inequality are still debated. Yet, an understanding of these sources is important for assessing potential policy options to address potential adverse consequences of inequality. In his recent paper “Firming […]
