Makoto Nirei

Makoto Nirei is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo. He has held previous academic positions at Hitotsubashi University, Carleton University, and Utah State University, and served as Chief Economist at the Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance, Japan. His research is centered on understanding macroeconomic fluctuations through the lens of micro-level interactions, network structures, and heterogeneous agents.

• Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago, 2002
• M.A. in Economics, University of Tokyo, 1996
• B.A. in Economics, University of Tokyo, 1994

His primary research interests include Macroeconomics, Business Cycles, Financial Fluctuations, Income and Wealth Inequality, Innovation, and Complex Systems. He investigates how idiosyncratic shocks propagate through production and financial networks to generate aggregate volatility, and how fat-tailed distributions emerge in income, wealth, and asset prices. His work often combines theoretical modeling with empirical analysis using large-scale datasets.

The recent articles reflect a strong trend toward understanding network-based propagation of shocks, fat-tailed distributions in economic variables, and the role of innovation and digitalization in inequality and growth. His publications span top journals in economics and interdisciplinary fields, showing a consistent focus on the microfoundations of macroeconomic phenomena, especially through interaction effects, threshold behaviors, and multiplicative stochastic processes.

He has received the Nikkei Economic Book Culture Award Special Prize (2023) for his book Macroeconomic Dynamics: Uncovering the Origin of Business Cycles.

• Nikkei Economic Book Culture Award Special Prize (2023)

Nirei has advised numerous researchers and co-authored with leading economists across institutions. He has been actively involved in policy research through affiliations with RIETI (Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry), Bank of Japan, and CREPE (Center for Research and Policy Evaluation). His work has informed discussions on supply chain resilience, tax policy, digital economy, and responses to economic crises such as the Great East Japan Earthquake and the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also contributed to public understanding through media articles, interviews, and open lectures.

He is associated with several research units including CREPE (Center for Research and Policy Evaluation) and RIETI, where he has published discussion papers and policy summaries. His recent work continues to explore structural estimation, network effects, and the economic implications of digital transformation.