Robert Shimer

Robert Shimer is the George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. He has been at Chicago since 2003 and is a prominent researcher at the intersection of labor economics, macroeconomics, and market theory.

Shimer earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His academic journey has led him to become one of the leading scholars in labor market search theory and its applications to macroeconomic phenomena.

Professor Shimer's research focuses on labor markets, search theory, mismatch between workers and jobs, private information, and duration dependence. His work examines how search frictions affect labor market outcomes, how workers and firms match in the presence of information asymmetries, and how these microeconomic foundations translate to macroeconomic phenomena. He has made significant contributions to understanding unemployment dynamics, wage rigidities, and the cyclical behavior of labor markets.

Analysis of Shimer's recent publications reveals a strong focus on matching theory, duration dependence, and information asymmetries across diverse contexts including labor markets, financial markets, and even kidney exchanges. His work spans from theoretical models to empirical applications, with increasing attention to market design problems and the implications of private information in various economic settings.

Shimer has received numerous professional honors:

• Fellow of the Econometric Society
• Fellow of the Society of Labor Economists
• Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory
• Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Sherwin Rosen Prize for Outstanding Contributions in the Field of Labor Economics

Throughout his career, Shimer has secured significant research funding through multiple National Science Foundation grants (9709881, 0079345, 0351352, 0648842, 0962354, and 1326068). He has held influential positions including Research Associate in the NBER Economic Fluctuations and Growth program, research fellow at IZA, co-chair of the NBER Macro Perspectives group (2004-2014), and editor of the Journal of Political Economy (2004-2012).