Laura C. Murphy

Laura C. Murphy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She earned her PhD in Economics from Northwestern University in June 2025. Her research focuses on macroeconomics and household finance, with an emphasis on understanding how liquidity constraints, demographic shifts, and gender disparities shape economic outcomes.

• Education: PhD in Economics (2025), Northwestern University; MA in Economics (2019), Northwestern University; BA in Economics with Environmental Studies minor (2017), University of Toronto.

Murphy's work examines liquidity constraints in auto loan markets, demographic impacts on lifetime income, historical gender gaps in labor force participation, and gender disparities in higher education financing. She employs empirical data analysis, theoretical modeling, and structural frameworks to investigate these topics.

Her teaching experience includes roles as a Teaching Assistant for undergraduate and graduate courses in econometrics, macroeconomics, and game theory.