Pawel Janas

Pawel Janas is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 2022. He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His research combines historical data analysis with modern quantitative methods at the intersection of finance and public economics.

• Education: B.A./B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Colorado, Boulder (2016); M.S. in Economics (2016); Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University (2022).

Janas explores how financial crises impact long-term economic outcomes, focusing on:

• Municipal fiscal responses during economic downturns
• Educational attainment during the Great Depression
• Financial stabilization policies and labor market trajectories
• Insurance industry-driven capital flows across U.S. regions

His empirical work leverages newly digitized datasets spanning 1880-1950, including:

• County-level manufacturing statistics (1927-1937)
• City-level financial records (1924-1938)
• Historical insurance industry data

Scientific achievements include:

• NBER Faculty Research Fellowship
• Publication in Journal of Public Economics (2025)
• Upcoming article in Journal of Economic History (2026)

He teaches Data Science for Finance and Economics at the undergraduate level and U.S. Economic History at both B.S. and Ph.D. levels. Janas' work provides critical insights into financial market frictions, fiscal austerity mechanisms, and the role of household resources during economic crises.