Becker Friedman Institute for Economics

05/19/2026

Why do some workers advance while others do not, even within the same organization?

In a recent BFI Student Lunch Series talk, Virginia Minni examined how managers influence careers, productivity, and inequality inside firms. Drawing on large-scale personnel data, her research shows that managers play a critical role in matching workers to opportunities where they can succeed — helping explain why some firms are more effective at developing talent than others.

Watch the full talk:

Why do some workers advance while others do not, even within the same firm? This talk explored how managers shape the allocation of workers to jobs and, in d...

05/19/2026

How can econometrics and applied microeconomics better inform one another?

The 2026 Interactions Conference brought together empirical researchers and methodologists to improve modern econometric practice through conversations spanning econometrics and applied microeconomics. Hosted by the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics on May 15, 2026, at the David Rubenstein Forum, the conference highlighted the importance of collaboration between methodological innovation and applied research.

The conference was organized by Stéphane Bonhomme, Evan K. Rose, Alexander Torgovitsky, and Christopher Walters.

Learn more about BFI events: https://bfi.uchicago.edu/events/

05/15/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined the 2026 Undergraduate Spring Panel: Regulating Disruptive Digital Technologies.

Hosted by Oeconomica, the University of Chicago’s Undergraduate Economics Society, in collaboration with the Becker Friedman Institute, the discussion explored how policymakers can balance the enormous benefits of digital technologies with growing concerns around privacy, labor market disruption, long-run growth, and digital addiction.

The panel featured insights from:
• Ufuk Akcigit, Arnold C. Harberger Professor in Economics and the College, University of Chicago
• Matthew Gentzkow, Landau Professor of Technology and the Economy at Stanford University and Faculty Director of Stanford Impact Labs (joining virtually)
• Marshall Steinbaum, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah and Senior Fellow in Higher Education Finance at the Jain Family Institute

Moderated by University of Chicago students Spencer Dalton and Christopher Pan, the conversation highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue on the future of the digital economy.

05/15/2026

Miss out on this week's BFI Weekly Briefing? 🗞️ Catch up on the latest research, events, and more here: https://ow.ly/wGPX50Z0eqa

05/14/2026

What are the unintended consequences of regulatory concentration limits on investment funds?

New research from Lubos Pastor, Taisiya Sikorskaya, and Jinrui Wang examines how portfolio concentration caps can distort stock prices by limiting how much optimistic investors are able to buy. The authors find that constrained funds subsequently perform worse than they otherwise would have.

Their findings highlight a hidden cost of stock market concentration and raise important questions about how regulations shape investor behavior and market efficiency.

Read the full brief at the Becker Friedman Institute:

The US stock market has grown dramatically more concentrated over the past decade. Between 2015 and 2024, the ten largest stocks went from representing 13% to 31% of total market value, and seven companies alone, the “,” make up roughly one-third of the S&P 500 and over half of the Russell 1000 ...

05/13/2026

How do physician incomes compare across countries?

New research from Aidan Buehler, Joshua Gottlieb, Jeffrey Hicks, Lisa Laun, Mårten Palme, Maria Polyakova, Victoria Udalova, and Maria Ventura examines physician earnings in the United States, Canada, Sweden, and the Netherlands.

The researchers find that physicians are concentrated in the top percentiles of the income distribution across all four countries. Physician incomes are highest in the United States, however, largely reflecting broader differences in labor markets and physicians’ outside options.

The findings offer new insight into how national labor market structures shape compensation in high-skill professions.

Read the full brief:

Given that physicians are some of the highest-skilled and highest-earning professionals in advanced economies, their incomes affect the allocation of top talent in the economy and are often cited as contributing to high and rising healthcare costs, especially in the United States. Regulatory policy....

05/12/2026

Healthcare is the largest industry by employment in the United States—and its workforce has experienced striking wage growth over the past four decades.

New research from Joshua Gottlieb, Kevin Rinz, Neale Mahoney, and Victoria Udalova finds that earnings for healthcare workers rose nearly twice as fast as those in other industries between 1980 and 2022, with especially large gains in the middle and upper-middle portions of the earnings distribution.

The research also shows that healthcare workers remain predominantly female and that regions facing manufacturing job losses have not systematically reinvented themselves by transitioning from “manufacturing to meds.”

Together, the findings offer new insight into how the rise of healthcare has reshaped the American labor market.

Read the full brief:

While the decline in manufacturing employment has received ample attention, the healthcare industry has rather quietly become the nation’s dominant employer. Indeed, the increase in healthcare employment since 2009 (and before) has inspired hope among cities that they can revive their economic bas...

05/06/2026

How can insights from across disciplines deepen our understanding of discrimination?

On April 28–29, BFI and the Chicago Booth Rustandy Center brought together researchers from economics, sociology, law, behavioral sciences, healthcare, artificial intelligence, and related fields to explore this question through presentations and panel discussions.

We were honored to welcome keynote speaker William A. Darity Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics at Duke University. His work on racial and ethnic economic inequality, stratification economics, and the economics of reparations continues to shape the field.

The conference was organized by Marianne Bertrand, Alex Imas, Conrad Miller, and Pietro Veronesi, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on some of today’s most pressing challenges. https://ow.ly/UKPE50YVFVQ

05/06/2026

Healthcare is now the largest industry by employment in the United States, and wages for healthcare workers have grown nearly twice as fast as those in other industries since 1980.

In new research, Joshua Gottlieb, Kevin Rinz, Neale Mahoney, and Victoria Udalova examine the rise of healthcare jobs, highlighting broad earnings growth—including in the middle and upper-middle parts of the distribution—and the industry’s predominantly female workforce.

They also find that regions experiencing manufacturing job losses have not systematically reinvented themselves by shifting into healthcare employment, challenging a common narrative about economic transition.

Read the full brief here:

While the decline in manufacturing employment has received ample attention, the healthcare industry has rather quietly become the nation’s dominant employer. Indeed, the increase in healthcare employment since 2009 (and before) has inspired hope among cities that they can revive their economic bas...

05/05/2026

Have you taken a Lyft, shopped at Walmart, or used Facebook in the last decade? If so, you may have been part of a John List experiment.

In the latest episode of The Pie, John List—Professor of Economics and Director of the Becker Friedman Institute—joins Tess Vigeland to discuss his new 900-page textbook, Experimental Economics: Theory in Practice. The book serves as a field guide to designing and interpreting real-world experiments, drawing on decades of work across policy and business.

From a Wisconsin baseball-card table in 1985 to collaborations with the White House, Lyft, and Walmart, List reflects on the lessons, missteps, and ethical considerations that have shaped the evolution of field experiments—and what they reveal about human behavior.

Listen/watch here: https://ow.ly/GKUH50YV9Aq

04/29/2026

At the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago, it starts with bold ideas—and the more than 200 economists who pursue them.

BFI advances cutting-edge research across the university’s economics community and translates it into accessible insights for scholars, policymakers, and the public worldwide. It is how the Chicago tradition of rigorous economic thinking continues to shape a more informed world.

The greatest discoveries lie ahead. https://ow.ly/RNjv50YS13b