Meredith M. Paker

Meredith M. Paker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Grinnell College, specializing in labor economics and economic history with a focus on policy-relevant topics like mass unemployment, wage structures, industrial reallocation, and inequality. She employs novel archival data, econometric methods, and machine learning in her research, which has been published in top-tier journals including The Journal of Economic History and The Economic History Review.

• Ph.D. and Master's in Economic History from University of Oxford (Nuffield College) as a Marshall Scholar
• B.A. from University of Georgia

Her research examines:

• Monopsony power in historical labor markets
• Structural unemployment patterns across interwar and 1980s Britain
• Preindustrial wage rigidity and employer strategies in 17th-18th century England
• Methodological innovations in historical data analysis

Recent publications reveal trends in:

• Nominal wage stickiness despite economic fluctuations
• Imperfect competition in labor markets
• Policy implications for modern economic theory

Scientific contributions include:

• Key monopsony framework development for historical labor analysis
• Marshall Scholarship recognition
• Archival data standardization for economic historians

Her work bridges economic history with contemporary labor economics, using historical patterns to inform modern debates about market power and wage determination.