Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Melissa Kearney

Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics
University of Maryland

Author Series

Moderator:
N. Gregory Mankiw
Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics Havard University
Trustee, ECNY

Melissa Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. She is also Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group; a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; a non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings; a scholar affiliate and member of the board of the Notre Dame Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities; and a scholar affiliate of the MIT Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab.

She is an editorial board member of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and Journal of Economic Literature, and a former co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources and Senior Editor of Future of Children.

Melissa's academic research focuses on domestic policy issues, especially issues related to social policy, poverty, and inequality. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and has been frequently cited in the popular press. She has testified before Congress on the topic of U.S. income inequality.

Her latest book, “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind, delves into the profound societal shifts related to marriage patterns in the United States, the resulting impact on economic outcomes, how these changes have influenced various aspects of American life and what implications they may have for our economic landscape in the future.