James Heckman

James J. Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. He has devoted his professional life to understanding the origins of major social and economic questions related to inequality, social mobility, discrimination, skill formation and labor market regulation, as well as devising and applying empirical strategies for understanding these questions. His recent research on human development and skill formation over the life cycle draws on many different disciplines to examine the origins of inequality, the determinants of social mobility, and the connections between stages of the life cycle. He has published over 300 articles and 9 books. He is actively engaged in conducting and guiding empirical and theoretical research on health, skill development, inequality, and social mobility over the life cycle in both mature and developing regions.