Professor Edward Lazear (Honorary Doctor)

Research Statement

Edward Lazear is a labor economist who is a founder of a field known as personnel economics. His research centers on employee incentives, promotions, compensation, and productivity in firms. He also has devoted study to culture and language, with an emphasis on explaining the rise in multiculturalism in the United States. Recent work includes an already widely known theory of educational production. His current research is on entrepreneurship, leadership, and its relation to personnel economics.

Bio

Edward P. Lazear, the Morris A. Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1985, is also the Davies Family Professor of Economics at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he has taught since 1992. Professor Lazear taught previously at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, where he was the Brown Professor of Urban and Labor Economics.

Lazear served as Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and was at the White House from 2006 to 2009. In his position as the chief economic advisor to the President, he advised on a broad range of matters that involve both the macroeconomy and microeconomic issues.

Founding Editor of the Journal of Labor Economics, Lazear is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Econometric Society, and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is the former President of the Society of Labor Economists.

Professor Lazear has written extensively on labor markets and personnel issues; microeconomic theory; issues involving worker compensation and effects on productivity; governmental policies on discrimination, affirmative action, and comparable worth; educational policy; unemployment; culture, language, and diversity issues; the doctrine of employment at will; distribution of income within the household; and pricing and marketing policies. He has over 100 published articles and eleven books.

Professor Lazear’s book Personnel Economics (MIT Press, 1995) expands on his 1993 Wicksell Lectures. In 1998, he received the Melamed Prize, which cited this book as the best research by a business school professor anywhere in the world during the previous two years. He received the Distinguished Teaching Award from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business as well as the PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award.

Lazear won the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, which is given to the person viewed to have made the most significant contributions to labor economics in the world. This was primarily for his work in personnel economics. In June 2006, Lazear was awarded the Jacob Mincer Prize given by the Society of Labor Economics for lifetime contributions to the field. He holds two honorary doctorates.

In addition to his former duties in Washington, Professor Lazear has been an advisor to the governments of Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia.

Born in 1948, Professor Lazear grew up in Los Altos, California. He received his AB and AM degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his PhD in economics from Harvard University.

Academic Degrees

• Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary), Copenhagen Business School, 2013
• Doktor Honoris Causa (Honorary), University of Zurich, 2010
• Doctor Mercaturae Honoris Causa (Honorary), Aarhus School of Business, 2006
• Legum Doctor (Honorary), Albertson College of Idaho, 1997
• Doktor Honoris Causa (Honorary), Copenhagen Business
• PhD in Economics, Harvard University, 1974
• A.B., Economics, UC Los Angeles, 1971
• A.M., Economics, UC Los Angeles, 1971

Academic Appointments

• At Stanford University since 1992
• Davies Family Professor of Economics, 2017- present
• Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1995-2017
• Professor of Human Resource Management and Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1992-1995
• Coordinator of Domestic Studies, Hoover Institution, 1987-1990
• Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Chicago,1974-1978
• Associate Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Chicago, 1978-1981
• Professor of Industrial Relations, University of Chicago, 1981-1985
• Isidore Brown and Gladys J. Brown Professor of Urban and Labor Economics, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 1985-1992
• Visiting Appointments:
• University of Chicago Becker Friedman Institute 2009-2015
• London School of Economics, June 1999
• NAKE (Netherlands Network of Economics), Tilburg, Netherlands, June 1999
• University of Oregon, March 1999
• Finnish Postgraduate Program in Economics, Helsinki, August 1998
• Aarhus University, Denmark, September 1996
• Institut d'Etudes Politiques/MBA Program, Paris, September 1995
• University of Saarlandes/Center for the Study of New Institutional Economics, Saarbrucken, Germany, August 1992
• Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, May 1987
• Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, 1983-84 (in residence January 1984)
• National Productivity Board, Singapore, June 1985 & July 1982

Professional Experience

• Morris Arnold Cox Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, 2002-present
• Chairman, President’s Council of Economic Advisers, The White House, 2006-2009
• Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, 1985-2002

Awards and Honors

• Robert Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement, Stanford University, 2016
• Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) Fellow, 2015-present
• Coulter Family Faculty Fellow, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2014-2015
• Honorary Doctorate Mercaturae Honoris Causa, Copenhagen Business School, 2013
• American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, Fellow, 2012-present
• Winnick Family Faculty Fellowship, 2010-2011
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Zurich, 2010
• Spence Faculty Fellow, 2009-2010
• Jacob Mincer Prize for Lifetime Achievement. Society of Labor Economists, 2006
• Honorary Doctor Mercaturae Honoris Causa, Aarhus School of Business, 2006
• IZA Prize in Labor Economics, 2004
• Society of Labor Economists, Fellow, 2003-present
• National Academy of Sciences, BOTA, member, 2001-2005
• Michael and Monica Spence Faculty Fellow, 2000-2001
• PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 2000
• American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, 2000-present
• Leo Melamed Biennial Prize for Outstanding Research, 1998
• President, Society of Labor Economists, 1997-98
• Honorary Doctor of Laws degree, Albertson College of Idaho, awarded June, 1997
• First Vice-President, Society of Labor Economists, 1996-97
• Stanford Graduate School of Business Research Fellowship, 1996-97
• Personnel Economics selected as MIT Press Outstanding Book, 1996
• Personnel Economics selected as one of ten most important books in Labor Economics Princeton, 1996
• MBA Distinguished Teaching Award, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1994
• Distinguished Teaching Award, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, May 1994
• Econometric Society, Fellow, 1988-
• Member, Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, 1988-
• Grant by Government of Spain to study U.S./Spanish unemployment, 1987-1988
• Binational Fellowship, United States/Israel Binational Science Foundation, 1985
• Elected Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, June 1981
• National Science Foundation Grant Recipient, 1979-81, 1981-83, 1984-86, 1987-90, 1991-95,1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-2001
• Graduate Fellow, National Science Foundation, 1971-74

Teaching

Degree Courses

2017-18

HRMGT 302: Incentives and Productivity

This course is designed to teach the student how to use economics to solve practical personnel problems that affect worker productivity. Topics include: selecting the best workers to hire, training workers, turnover, setting compensation...

MGTECON 381: Contemporary Economic Policy

Economic issues permeate all that happens in government. This topics-based course will exam a variety of historic and current issues on the political agenda where economics is central to decision making. It is taught by faculty who served at the...

2016-17

HRMGT 302: Incentives and Productivity

This course is designed to teach the student how to use economics to solve practical personnel problems that affect worker productivity. Topics include: selecting the best workers to hire, training workers, turnover, setting compensation...

MGTECON 381: Contemporary Economic Policy

Economic issues permeate all that happens in government. This topics-based course will exam a variety of historic and current issues on the political agenda where economics is central to decision making. It is taught by faculty who served at the...

Executive Education & Other Non-Degree Programs

• Stanford Executive Program: Be a Leader Who Matters Learn to generate change, inspire innovation, and instill excellence at this six-week executive program.

In the Media

Holiday Cheer From the Dismal Science

The Wall Street Journal, December 29, 2016

There Is No 'Structural' Unemployment Problem

Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2012

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Edward Lazear says to reduce unemployment "all we need to do is grow the economy."

Slow Recovery or Failed Agenda?

Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2012

In the Wall Street Journal, Edward Lazear discusses how Barack Obama and Mitt Romney will debate the economic numbers.

Lazear Tapped to Lead President's Economic Council

Washington Post, February 30, 2006

Bush May Choose Stanford Economist Lazear to Succeed Bernanke

Bloomberg, December 1, 2005

Insights by Stanford Business

writtenA Data-Driven Guide to Becoming an Effective Boss

October 6, 2016

A good boss shares a vision, teaches well, and helps employees meet their career goals.

writtenHow Fear Spurred Productivity in the Great Recession

April 11, 2016

Research shows how this recession bucked historical patterns.

writtenMandy O'Neill: Why Capable Women Don't Always Realize Their Potential

May 8, 2013

A study suggests it's many factors, from priorities to putting in fewer hours at work than men.

writtenA Prescription for an American Economic Recovery

February 15, 2013

Economist Edward Lazear says Congress and the president must focus on policies that encourage greater investment.

writtenResearchers: How Much Difference Does a Boss Make?

September 27, 2012

A new study finds that good middle managers add to workplace productivity.

writtenDon't Be Too Specialized If You Want a Top Level Management Job

August 1, 2010

An economist says generalists stand a better chance of making it to top management positions than those with more specialized resumes.

writtenEdward Lazear: Generalists Succeed as Entrepreneurs

February 1, 2005

Survey data confirms that those who have had a variety of jobs and experiences are more likely to start their own companies.