Erik Hurst studies macroeconomic policy, consumption, time use, entrepreneurship, housing markets, and household financial behavior. Hurst's research includes " Conspicuous Consumption and Race" and "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades" in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, "The Consumer Bankruptcy Decision" and "Life Cycle Prices and Production" in the American Economic Review; and "Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship," "The Correlation in Wealth Across Generations," in the Journal of Political Economy ; and "Home is Where the Equity Is: Mortgage Refinancing and Household Consumption," in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking). His work on leisure trends was written up in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Economist. His current paper "Endogenous Gentrification and House Price Dynamics" looks at within city movements in house prices during city wide housing price booms and busts. Additionally, his work in "The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth" explores how changing labor market outcomes for Blacks and women have spurred U.S. growth over the last fifty years.
Hurst won the 2006 TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security for his article about the transition to retirement titled "Consumption Versus Expenditure," published in the Journal of Political Economy (2005). He was also the inaugural recipient of the John Huizinga Faculty Fellowship in 2005 and was awarded the William Ladany Research Award in 2001, which is given to a junior faculty member with promising research potential. In 2006, he was named a Neubauer Faculty Fellow and the previous year he was named a Charles E. Merrill Scholar, an honor given to Chicago Booth faculty who conduct promising research in the area of policy studies. He also has received grants from the Michigan Retirement Research Center,the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Kauffman Foundation. Prior to moving to Chicago, Hurst won two teaching awards while a graduate student at the University of Michigan. Additionally, in both 2008 and 2010, the MBAs selected him as the recipient of the Emory Williams Award for Outstanding MBA Teaching.
He is a member of the Economic Fluctuations Group, Aging Group, and Public Economics Group at the National Bureau of Economic Research.
He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Clarkson University in 1993. He received a master's degree in economics in 1995 and a PhD in economics in 1999 from the University of Michigan. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1999.
Hurst enjoys football, softball, and television.
Selected Publications
"Conspicuous Consumption and Race," Quarterly Journal of Economics (2009).
"Lifecycle Prices and Production," American Economic Review (2007), "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," Quarterly Journal of Economics (2007).
"Consumption vs. Expenditure," Journal of Political Economy (2005).
"Liquidity Constraints, Household Wealth, and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Political Economy (2004).
