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PROGRAM IN STRUCTURAL
MICROECONOMICS |
Program Area Directors
for 2008/09: Steven Berry and Phil Haile
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It is therefore not possible in many economic problems to separate
causes and effects by varying the causes one at a time, studying the separate effect of
each cause — a method so fruitful in the natural sciences. On the other hand,
economists do possess more elaborate and better established theories of economic behavior
than the theories of motion of material bodies known to Kepler.... While much in
these theories is incomplete and in need of reformulation and elaboration ... such theory
as we have is an indispensable element in understanding in a quantitative way the
formation of economic variables.... An observed regularity not traced to underlying
behavior patterns, institutional rules, and laws of production ... is of no help
whatever in assessing the probable effects of stated economic policies or institutional
changes.
T. Koopmans, 1947, CFP 25a |
Since its earliest days, the Cowles Commission and Cowles Foundation
have emphasized the importance of empirical research with a firm foundation in economic
theory. Much of this work has been aimed at uncovering policy invariant (i.e.,
"structural'') economic relationships for both positive and normative purposes.
The Cowles Foundation Program in Structural Microeconomics continues in this tradition,
supporting cutting edge research in a variety of fields of microeconomics that takes
seriously both the statistics and the economics required for informative empirical
work. The Structural Microeconomics program sponsors visiting positions, post-docs,
conferences, and graduate training. |
VISITORS, 2008–2009 (Contact
information when available) |
Ahti, Ville Valtteri, University of Helsinki (9/1/07
– 5/31/08)
Bontemps, Christian, University of Toulouse 1 (4/2/08 – 4/24/08)
Eaton, Jonathan, New York University (4/21/08 – 4/25/08)
Hortaçscu, Ali, University of Chicago (9/1/07 – 12/31/07)
Kortum, Samuel, University of Minnesota (4/21/08 – 4/25/08) |
| PAST VISITORS |
2007–2008
Ahti, Ville Valtteri, University of Helsinki
Bontemps, Christian, University of Toulouse 1
Eaton, Jonathan, New York University
Hortaçscu, Ali, University of Chicago
Kortum, Samuel, University of Minnesota
2006–2007
Luis Cabral, NYU
James Heckman, University of Chicago
Igal Hendel, Northwestern University
Jakub Kastl, Stanford University
John Kennan, University of Wisconsin
Tong Li, Vanderbilt University
Jean-Marc Robin, Université de Paris 1
John Rust, University of Maryland
Aloysius Siow, University of Minnesota |
2005–2006
Richard Blundell, University College, London
Ali Hortaçsu, University of Chicago
John Kennan, University of Wisconsin
Rosa Matzkin, Northwestern University
Costas Meghir, University College, London
Antonio Merlo, University of Pennsylvania
Ariel Pakes, Harvard University
Michael Whinston, Northwestern University
2004–2005
Rob Porter |
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