Assistant Professor of Economics

Professor Kahn is a labor economist with interests in organizations and education. Her most recent work develops a methodology for measuring the evolution of worker productivity and the impact of employer learning about worker productivity on wages. She has also examined the consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy, finding surprisingly long-lasting, negative wage effects. Her related work on recessions suggests that, although firms hire fewer workers during a downturn, those they do hire stay longer than the typical hire. From 2010 to 2011 Kahn served on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as the senior economist for labor and education policy. She has also been a visiting fellow at Brookings Institution. This year Professor Kahn will teach The Employee and Strategic Management and the Internal Organization of the Firm.

Selected Articles
"Asymmetric Information between Employers," accepted, American Economic Journal: Applied, January 2013
(also IZA Discussion Paper #7147)

"The Plight of Mixed Race Adolescents" (with R. Fryer, S. Levitt, and J. Spenkuch), Review of Economics and Statistics, 94:3, August 2012 [Lead article]

"The Long-Term Labor Market Consequences of Graduating from College in a Bad Economy," Labour Economics, Vol. 17, No. 2, April, 2010 [Lead article]
Winner,  Best paper in Labour Economics 2010/ 2011

Working Papers 
"Employer Learning, Productivity and the Earnings Distribution: Evidence from Performance Measures" (with F. Lange)

"Cashier or Consultant? Entry Labor Market Conditions, Field of Study and Career Success" (with J. Altonji and J. Speer)

"The Effect of Teen Pregnancy on Siblings' Sexual Behavior" (with P. Anand)

Education
PhD Harvard University, 2008
MA Harvard University, 2005
AB University of Chicago, 2003

Related Links

Lisa B. Kahn's CV Lisa B. Kahn's IZA profile page