James Ziliak

James Ziliak serves as the Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics and University Research Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Poverty Research and has held leadership roles including Department Chair and Founding Executive Director of the Kentucky Federal Statistical Research Data Center. His academic career includes prior positions as assistant and associate professor at the University of Oregon and visiting roles at the Brookings Institution, Russell Sage Foundation, University College London, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin.

His educational qualifications are:

• PhD in Economics, Indiana University, 1993
• MA, Indiana University, 1990
• BS in Economics and BA in Sociology, Purdue University, 1988

Ziliak's research expertise centers on labor economics, poverty, food insecurity, and tax and transfer policy. His work critically examines the effectiveness of social safety net programs and the economic conditions of low-income households, contributing significantly to policy debates on poverty alleviation through rigorous empirical analysis of government interventions.

Among his professional honors are:

• Gatton Endowed Chair in Microeconomics
• University Research Professor
• Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies

In terms of academic leadership, Ziliak has guided departmental strategy as Chair and established major research infrastructure through the Kentucky Federal Statistical Research Data Center. He founded the Center for Poverty Research to foster interdisciplinary collaboration on poverty-related issues, though specific current advisees and grant details are not enumerated in the source material.