Justin Wolfers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Justin James Michael Wolfers (1972-12-11)11 December 1972 (age 53) |
| Partner | Betsey Stevenson |
| Academic background | |
| Education | University of Sydney (BEcon) Harvard University (MA,PhD) |
| Doctoral advisor | Lawrence F. Katz[1][2] Olivier Blanchard |
| Other advisors | Christopher Jencks Alberto Alesina |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Brookings Institution University of Michigan |
Justin James Michael Wolfers (born December 11, 1972)[3][4] is an Australian economist andpublic policy scholar. He is professor of economics and public policy at theGerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at theUniversity of Michigan, and a Senior Fellow at thePeterson Institute for International Economics.[citation needed]
Wolfers attendedJames Ruse Agricultural High School, in Sydney (1985–1990);[5] it was in high school that he became interested in economics, noting the influence of his economics teacher.[6]
Wolfers earned aBachelor of Economics from theUniversity of Sydney (1991–1994).
He moved to the US and earned a Master of Arts in economics (2000) and a PhD in economics (1997–2001) atHarvard University. He had aFulbright Scholarship.[7]
Wolfers was associate professor of business and public policy at theWharton School of theUniversity of Pennsylvania.[citation needed] In the fall of 2012 Wolfers moved to theUniversity of Michigan as professor of economics and public policy beginning with his partner, fellow economistBetsey Stevenson.[8] he is a Senior Fellow at thePeterson Institute for International Economics.[citation needed]
He is noted for his research on happiness and its relation to income.[9]He is a contributor toThe New York Times (where he writes forThe Upshot blog) andThe Wall Street Journal. He was an editor of theBrookings Papers on Economic Activity from 2009 through 2015. Wolfers' research has explored macro economics, labor economics, the economics of sports,prediction markets, and the family.[10]In 2019, he and Stevenson wrote two economics textbooks,Principles of Microeconomics andPrinciples of Macroeconomics, published by Macmillan Learning. The authors' aim was to reflect a school of thought where "every decision a person makes is an economic decision" and offer examples students could relate to to better reflect the real world.[11]
Wolfers and Stevenson host theThink Like an Economist podcast which intends to introduce the audience to economic ideas and empower them to make better decisions.[12]
Wolfers and his partnerBetsey Stevenson have two children. They are unmarried for tax reasons and have publicly discussed being in ashared earning/shared parenting relationship.[8]
