Andrew Seltzer

Andrew Seltzer is a Professor of Economics and Economic History at Royal Holloway, University of London, where he has been employed since 1998. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics. Seltzer is affiliated with several prestigious research organizations as a fellow, including IZA, the Centre for Economic History at the Australian National University, and the Institute for Compensation Studies at Cornell University.

His educational background includes a BA in Economics from Colby College and a PhD in Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. Prior to joining Royal Holloway, he was a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne from 1994-1997.

Professor Seltzer specializes in economic history with a particular focus on labor markets. His research spans historical minimum wage legislation, internal labor markets, and long-term labor market contracts. He has conducted extensive research using historical data from British and Australian banks to examine worker-firm relationships and the role of contractual incentives. More recently, he has expanded into experimental projects on multi-period labor contracts, demonstrating his ability to bridge historical analysis with contemporary economic experimentation.

Seltzer's scholarly contributions have been published in top-tier journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Labor Economics, and Journal of Economic History. His research output demonstrates a consistent focus on labor market institutions throughout history, with particular attention to wage regulation and employment relationships.

• Fellow of IZA (joined as Research Fellow in April 2012)
• Fellow of the Centre for Economic History (Australian National University)
• Fellow of the Institute for Compensation Studies (Cornell University)

Professor Seltzer has supervised multiple graduate students, with five supervised works documented in his academic record. His research has been supported by various academic institutions and has contributed to understanding of labor market dynamics across different historical periods and geographical contexts. Seltzer is also active in academic community service, having served as guest editor for special issues in economic history journals.

His current research continues to explore the political economy of minimum wage setting, as evidenced by his 2024 publication on the Factories and Shops Act of Victoria, Australia. This work continues his long-standing interest in historical labor market regulation while bringing new insights to contemporary debates about wage policy.