Ran Abramitzky

Ran Abramitzky is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Economics and the Senior Associate Dean of the Social Sciences at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). His academic career at Stanford spans from Assistant Professor (2005-2013) to Associate Professor (2013-2019) and finally to Full Professor (2019-present), with additional administrative roles including Vice Chair of the Economics Department (2014-2020) and Senior Associate Dean of the Social Sciences (2020-present).

His educational background includes a Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University (2005), an M.A. in Economics from Northwestern University (2000), and a B.A. in Economics and Business from Hebrew University, Israel (1998).

Ran Abramitzky's research focuses on economic history and applied microeconomics, with particular emphasis on immigration patterns, income inequality, and cultural assimilation. His work often employs historical data to analyze long-term trends in economic mobility and immigrant integration. He has developed innovative methods for linking individuals across historical Census waves to trace the lives of immigrants over time. His research demonstrates that upward mobility remains possible for immigrants today at rates comparable to the early 20th century, and that children of immigrants frequently exceed the economic outcomes of children of US-born parents. He also examines how immigrants assimilate into American culture, finding similar assimilation rates in historical and contemporary contexts.

Award-winning author of 'The Mystery of the Kibbutz: Egalitarian Principles in a Capitalist World' (Princeton University Press, 2018), which received the Economic History Association's Gyorgi Ranki Biennial Prize, Abramitzky has also co-authored 'Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success' (PublicAffairs, 2022). His scholarly contributions span economic history, migration studies, and labor economics, with a focus on historical data analysis to understand contemporary economic phenomena.

• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
• Gyorgi Ranki Biennial Prize for best book in European Economic History (2019)
• Alexander Gerschenkron Prize for best dissertation in economic history (2006)
• Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Stanford University (2012)
• Economics Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award, Stanford University (2009)
• Multiple Excellence in Refereeing Awards from leading economics journals
• NSF and Russell Sage Foundation grants for research on immigration and economic mobility

Ran Abramitzky has advised numerous doctoral students including Alvaro Calderon, Juliette Coly, Tamar (Tamri) Matiashvili, and Alexia Olaizola as primary advisor, and has served as dissertation reader and co-advisor for several others. He has received significant research funding including an NSF grant of $500,000 (2022-2025) for 'Colleges and Upward Mobility in the US Over the Last Century' and an RSF grant of $166,553 (2022-2023) for the same project. His former role as co-editor of Explorations in Economic History (2015-2019) and service on multiple editorial boards demonstrates his leadership in the field of economic history. He also co-directs the Summer Institute for High School Economics Teachers, extending his educational impact beyond Stanford.