Raj Chetty

Harvard University


Primary Section: 54, Economic Sciences
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2018)

Biosketch

Raj Chetty is an economist who focuses on combining empirical evidence with economic theory to help design more effective government policies. His research on tax policy, unemployment insurance, education, and equality of opportunity has been widely cited both in academia and policy circles.

Chetty was born in New Delhi, India and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He earned his BA and PhD from Harvard University and later became one of the youngest tenured professors at Harvard. He has also held faculty positions at the University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University and Stanford University. Chetty is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the John Bates Clark medal, given by the American Economic Association to the best American economist under age 40.

Research Interests

Much of Chetty’s recent research focuses on understanding how to increase equality of opportunity: how can we give our children better chances of succeeding, irrespective of their family’s income or wealth? Much of his research draws upon “big data” to identify the key drivers of inequality and opportunity, test competing theories, and develop potential policy solutions.  His interests span from methodological research on methods of causal inference to applied economic theory to empirical work, and much of his research draws upon insights from related social sciences such as psychology and sociology.

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