Nathaniel Hendren

Nathaniel Hendren is a Professor of Economics at MIT, specializing in public economics and economic opportunity. He co-directs Policy Impacts (evidence-based policy) and Opportunity Insights (economic mobility research). His work explores barriers to economic mobility, market failures in insurance and human capital investments, and policy evaluation frameworks.

Education: B.S. in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Chicago (2005), Ph.D. in Economics from MIT (2010).

Research focuses on intergenerational mobility, place-based policies, and welfare analysis. Notable projects include the Opportunity Atlas mapping childhood environments' impacts on adult outcomes, and analyses of climate policy, tax audits, and healthcare subsidies.

His work bridges economics with policy, emphasizing empirical tools like big data and quasi-experiments. Recent articles address climate change policy welfare metrics, spatial economic opportunity, and social capital's role in mobility.

• Awards: Presidential Early Career Award (2019), Sloan Fellowship (2016)

Advising focuses on graduate students in public economics. He edits the Journal of Public Economics and American Economic Review: Insights. Current initiatives include scaling evidence-based policy solutions through interdisciplinary teams at Opportunity Insights.

Labs/Teams: Leads Opportunity Insights and Policy Impacts, collaborating across academia and government for actionable research.