James J. Heckman, Ph.D.

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

James Heckman, Ph.D., is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and a Nobel laureate. He serves as Director of the Economics Research Center and the Center for Social Program Evaluation at the Harris School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation, and is affiliated with University College London, Peking University and University College Dublin.

Dr. Heckman has received numerous awards for his work, including the 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (with Daniel McFadden), the 2005 Jacob Mincer Award for Lifetime Achievement in Labor Economics, and the 2005 Ulysses Medal from the University College Dublin. His work has been devoted to the development of a scientific basis for economic policy evaluation, with special emphasis on models of individuals and disaggregated groups, and to the problems and possibilities created by heterogeneity, diversity, and unobserved counterfactual states.

His recent research focuses on human development and lifecycle skill formation, with a special emphasis on the economics of early childhood. Heckman has published over 200 articles and several books, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society and the Society of Labor Economics, and a fellow of the American Statistical Association.

He received his B.A. in mathematics from Colorado College in 1965 and his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 1971.