James J. Heckman

James J. Heckman headshot

Research Professor

750 N. Lake Shore Drive
4th Floor
Chicago, IL 60611
gro.nfba@namkcehj

Joint appointment

Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Economics, University of Chicago

Education

Ph.D., Economics, Princeton University

Bio

James J. Heckman has devoted his professional life to understanding the origins of major social and economic problems related to inequality, social mobility, discrimination, skill formation and regulation, and to devising and evaluating alternative strategies for addressing those problems. His work is rooted in economics, but he actively collaborates across disciplines to get to the heart of…

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Research focus

The economics of human development, building theoretical and empirical models of human capacity formation; the development of a body of new econometric tools that address this issue; the development of a scientific basis for economic policy evaluation. This work emphasizes the role of the family in producing capacities and the effects of capacities on education, wages, health, crime, and other dimensions of lifetime achievement.

Projects

World Justice Project: The World Justice Project (WJP) is a multinational, multidisciplinary initiative to strengthen the rule of law worldwide. It is building a broad and diverse constituency that will advance the rule of…
The Heckman Equation: Research. Data. Lectures. Advocacy. The resources on The Heckman Equation promote the value of investing in early childhood development. Click here to visit the site. See also: The Heckman…

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Publications

Early Childhood Education and Life-cycle Health" (forthcoming 2019): Health Economics
"A Dynamic Model of Health, Addiction, Education, and Wealth": Review of Economic Studies
"Intergenerational and Intragenerational Externalities of the Perry Preschool Project": (unpublished manuscript)

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Presentations

The Economics and the Econometrics of Human Development: Oct 2013
Causal Analysis After Haavelmo: Aug 2013
Creating and Measuring Capabilities (Child Development Leadership Training Workshop): Jun 2013

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Professional Service & Recognition

Senior Advisor to the China Development Research Foundation, 2012-
President, The Econometric Society, 2013 (Cycle: Second Vice-President, 2010-2011; First Vice-President, 2011-2012; President, 2013)
Member, Research Council, Becker-Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, 2011–2014
Associate Editor, IZA Journal of Labor Economics, 2012–
Honorary Academician of Academia Sinica, inducted 2010
Distinguished Contributions to Public Policy for Children Award, Society for Research in Child Development, 2009
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2009–
Lifetime Member, Irish Economic Association, 2009–
Gold Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic, Pio Manzu Institute, 2008
Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Honor of the Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2000
Sun Yefang Economic Science Award, 2007
Dennis J. Aigner Award for Applied Econometrics, Journal of Econometrics, 2007
Theodore W. Schultz Award, American Agricultural Economics Association Foundation, January 2007
Ulysses Medal, University College Dublin, 2006
Dennis J. Aigner Award for Applied Econometrics, Journal of Econometrics, 2005
Jacob Mincer Award for Lifetime Achievement, Society of Labor Economics, 2005
Medal, Center for Early Child Development for \Exceptional Contributions to Childhood Development", May 2004
Elevated to Distinguished Service Professorship, University of Chicago, 1995
A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1988-1990
Henry Schultz Professor of Economics, University of Chicago, 1985
Statistician of the Year, Chicago Chapter of the American Statistical Association, 2000
First Annual Louis T. Benezet Distinguished Alumnus Award, Colorado College, 1985
Irving Fisher Professor, Yale University, Fall 1984
John Bates Clark Medal (American Economics Association), 1983

Faculty

Research Community