Prof. John A. List has been appointed director of the University of Chicago’s Becker Friedman Institute for Economics, effective July 1, Provost Katherine Baicker announced today.
Founded in 2011, the institute unites economists from across UChicago—including the Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Law School—to drive innovative research, inspire new ideas, and create meaningful impact by helping shape policy and public discourse worldwide.
The Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics, List is a leading expert in microeconomics, field experiments, and the science of scaling. His research spans market dynamics, incentive structures, behavioral economics, charitable giving and generosity, early childhood education, and the gig economy. He has authored nearly 300 peer-reviewed articles and several books, including two bestsellers: The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life and The Voltage Effect: Making Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale.
“John is a visionary scholar and leader whose groundbreaking research has profoundly influenced the field,” Baicker said. “With a distinguished record of research and leadership, he brings deep expertise and an entrepreneurial perspective to this role. I am confident that his leadership will build on BFI’s accomplishments to amplify its impact on campus and around the world.”
List is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Econometric Society. He has received numerous honors, including the Arrow Prize for Senior Economists, the Kenneth Galbraith Award, the Yrjo Jahnsson Lecture Prize and the Klein Lecture Prize. He has served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
List has been a member of the UChicago faculty since 2005 and served as chair of the Department of Economics from 2012 to 2018. He previously held faculty positions at the University of Central Florida, the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland.
“I’m honored to step into this role at an esteemed and storied institute, respected for its revolutionary ideas and rigorous application of them,” List said. “I am humbled to join the prestigious group of past directors, and I look forward to leading BFI into a future that demands we encourage innovation, transcend boundaries, eschew binary thinking, and stimulate complex problem solving. No institution is more up to the task.”
List succeeds Erik Hurst, the Roman Family Distinguished Service Professor of Economics and John E. Jeuck Faculty Fellow, who has served as BFI director since January 2024.
