The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon contains a graduate school of public policy and management and a graduate school of information systems management. The college was founded in 1968 and has had economics as one of its core areas from its very inception. At present Heinz economists are actively working on a variety of issues in applied microeconomics. Economists at the Heinz College regularly publish in top economics journals like the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics, and in other fields such as demography, psychology and statistics.
Economists at Heinz are part of a larger economics community at Carnegie Mellon, which includes colleagues at the Tepper School of Business and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Heinz faculty engage actively in a Faculty Research Seminar, an Informal Lunch Seminar, and an Applied Microeconomics Seminar. The college offers a Ph.D. in public policy, and participates in the joint Ph.D. program in economics and public policy, the joint Ph.D. in statistics and public policy and the joint Ph.D. in machine learning and public policy. In addition, the college offers master's programs in public policy and management and a number of other areas.
Economics Faculty
Lee Branstetter
Ph.D., Harvard; Economics of Technology and Innovation, International Economics
- NBER Research Associate, International Trade & Investment Program and Productivity, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program
- Senior Economist for International Trade and Investment, President's Council of Economic Advisors (2011-2012)
- Director, Future of Work Initiative (2016-present)
- Editorial Board: Journal of International Economics (2003-2011)
Karen Clay
Ph.D., Stanford; Energy and Environmental Economics, Economic History
- NBER Research Associate, Environmental and Energy Economics and Development of the American Economy
- Associate Editor, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2024-present
- Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) Fellow, 2025
Andrew Garin
Ph.D., Harvard University; Labor Economics and Markets, Gig Economy, Wages, Inequality and Mobility
- National Bureau of Economic Research, Faculty Research Fellow
- Research Affiliate, IZA (Institute for Labor Economics)
Akshaya Jha
Ph.D., Stanford; Energy and Environmental Economics, Industrial Organization
- NBER Faculty Research Fellow, Environment and Energy Economics
- Recipient: Hicks-Tinbergen Award, USAEE Young Professional Research Competition
Felix Koenig
Ph.D., London School of Economics; Labor Economics, Public Economics
- IZA Research Affiliate
- Princeton University Postdoctoral Fellow, Industrial Relations Section (2019-2020)
- Recipient: Upjohn Institute Early Career Research Award
Brian Kovak
Ph.D., Michigan; International Trade, Labor Economics
- NBER Research Associate, International Trade & Investment Program; IZA Research Fellow
- Editor: Journal of Labor Economics (2025-present); Editorial Board: Journal of International Economics (2020-2025), Journal of Development Economics (2014-2019)
- 2019 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, 2014 IZA Young Labor Economist Award
Robert Strauss
Ph.D., Wisconsin; Public Finance, Human Resources
- Exceptional Service Award, US Treasury, 1972
- Presidential pens from Richard M. Nixon (1972) and Gerald R. Ford (1976)
- Advisory Boards: State Tax Notes (1985.--), IRS Statistics of Income Division (1982.--)
- National Academy Panelist on State and Local Statistics 1987-8
Lowell Taylor
Ph.D., Michigan; Labor Economics, Population Economics
- NBER Research Associate, Labor Studies Program; IZA Research Fellow
- Senior Economist, President's Council of Economic Advisors (2000)
- Recipient: Kenneth J Arrow Award
- Senior Fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago, serving as Principal Investigator of the 1997 National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY97).