Kerwin K. Charles has been widely recognized for his scholarship on a variety of microeconomic issues. He has studied and published on earnings and wealth inequality, conspicuous consumption, race and gender labor market discrimination, worker and family adjustment to job loss and health shocks, the intergenerational transmission of economic status, the effects of housing booms and busts, and non-employment in the economy.
Professional positions
- 2019–present: Indra K. Nooyi Dean and Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Economics, Policy, and Management, Yale School of Management, Yale University
- 2006–2019: Associate, Steans Family Professor, and Edwin and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor and Deputy and Interim Dean, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
- 1996–2005: Assistant and associate professor of economics and public policy, University of Michigan
- 1994–1995: Lecturer, Cornell University
Notable publications
- Bayer, Patrick, and Kerwin Kofi Charles. 2018. “Divergent paths: A new perspective on earnings differences between Black and White men since 1940.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 133(3): 1459–1501.
- Charles, Kerwin Kofi, Erik Hurst, and Nikolai Roussanov. 2009. “Conspicuous consumption and race.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124(2): 425–467.
- Charles, Kerwin Kofi, and Jonathan Guryan. 2008. “Prejudice and wages: An empirical assessment of Becker’s The Economics of Discrimination.” Journal of Political Economy 116(5): 773–809.
- Charles, Kerwin Kofi, and Erik Hurst. 2003. “The correlation of wealth across generations.” Journal of Political Economy 111(6): 1155–1182.
Degrees
- PhD, Cornell University
- MS, Cornell University
- BS, University of Miami
