David J. Deming

David J. Deming serves as the Danoff Dean of Harvard College and holds the Isabelle and Scott Black Professorship of Political Economy at Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. His academic role includes dual affiliations with the Department of Economics and the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He also co-leads Kirkland House as Faculty Dean, fostering undergraduate community-building through academic and social initiatives.

His research focuses on education, skills, inequality, and the future of work. Key themes include the long-term impacts of schooling, shifts in labor market skill demands (particularly 'soft skills'), and policy implications of technological disruption. He has pioneered studies on AI’s role in leadership assessment and workforce adaptation, alongside analyzing higher education’s role in social mobility.

Notable work includes the Sherwin Rosen Prize-winning exploration of labor economics trends, influential analyses of 'free college' programs, and collaborative projects on managerial effectiveness and generative AI adoption. Deming’s work bridges academia and policy through cross-Harvard initiatives like the Project on Workforce, which aims to strengthen education-to-employment pathways.

• Awards: Sherwin Rosen Prize (2022)
• Key Projects: Malcolm Wiener Center research on social policy, Harvard Project on Workforce’s cross-sector collaborations
• Public Engagement: Columns in New York Times, Substack newsletter Forked Lightning, and frequent media commentary