Emilio J. Castilla

Emilio J. Castilla is the NTU Professor of Management and Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He co-directs the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research and has previously held faculty positions at the Wharton School.

Research Focus:

• Organizational Theory and Behavior
• Economic Sociology
• Human Resources Management
• Workplace Inequality
• Mechanisms of Meritocracy
• Social Networks in Employment

Scientific Contributions:

• Identified the "Paradox of Meritocracy" with Stephen Benard
• Documented systematic racial/gender pay disparities despite formal merit systems
• Investigated legacy admissions practices and their inequality-reinforcing effects
• Developed frameworks for longitudinal analysis of employment processes

Selected Honors:

• Richard Beckhard Memorial Prize (2017)

Career Trajectory: Joined MIT Sloan in 2005 after Wharton faculty appointment. Serves as Research Fellow at Wharton Financial Institutions Center and Center for Human Resources. His work appears in top journals across sociology, management, and economics.