Raj Chetty is the William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard
University and Director of Opportunity Insights. Chetty’s research combines
empirical evidence and economic theory to help design more effective government
policies. His work on tax policy, unemployment insurance, and education has been
widely cited in media outlets and Congressional testimony. His current research
focuses on equality of opportunity: How can we give children from disadvantaged
backgrounds better chances of succeeding?
Chetty is a recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the 2013 John Bates
Clark medal, given by the American Economic Association to the best American
economist under age 40.
He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2003 at the age of 23 and was a
professor at University of California at Berkeley until 2009, when he returned to
Harvard as one of the youngest tenured professors in Harvard’s history. Chetty was
a faculty member at Stanford from 2015 to 2018. In summer 2018, he returned to
Harvard, where he rejoined the Economic Department and launched Opportunity
Insights.