Samuel S. Kortum

Professor of Economics

Yale University

Areas of Expertise:

  • International economics
  • Industrial organization
  • Mathematical economics

Kortum is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received his bachelor's degree from Wesleyan University and PhD in Economics from Yale.

Kortum was formerly on the faculty of Boston University and the University of Minnesota, a Staff Economist at the Federal Reserve Board, and a National Fellow at the NBER. In 2004, he and Jonathan Eaton received the Frisch Medal for their paper "Technology, Geography, and Trade." He is currently an editor of the Journal of Political Economy. In addition to international economics, Kortum has written on economic growth, innovation, technology diffusion, and firm dynamics. His research has appeared in top academic journals and has been supported by a series of grants from the National Science Foundation.

Link: Samuel S. Kortum's web site

Nirupama Rao

Assistant Professor, Wagner School of Public Service, New York University 

Areas of Expertise:

  • Tax Policy
  • U.S. Oil Supply

Rao's research examines the impact of taxation on production and investment decisions. Her main dissertation chapter focused on how excise taxes on oil production affect the extraction decisions of domestic producers. She has also studied how effectively federal tax credits increase research and development spending. Rao's other work investigates the composition and importance of corporate deferred taxes and the incentives they create to retime income around changes in tax policy. She completed her Ph.D in economics at MIT in June 2010 where she previously earned her undergraduate degree.

Link: 

Nirupama Rao's web site