Rebecca Lessem

Rebecca Lessem is an Associate Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her academic work spans labor economics, immigration, econometrics, and political economy, with a focus on structural modeling and policy analysis.

• PhD in Economics (2011), University of Wisconsin–Madison
• BS in Economics (2005), Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Her research examines immigrant labor market integration, the economic impacts of policy interventions like visa restrictions and tax reforms, and the interplay between housing markets and political contributions. She employs structural econometric models and counterfactual analysis to evaluate policy effectiveness.

Key awards include the Berkman Award (2025), Borders Awards in Immigration Research (2013), Christensen Award in Empirical Economics (2010), and Field Research Award (2009). She has served on committees like the UBA Curriculum Review and the International Association for Applied Econometrics program review committee.