James Heckman

James (Jim) Heckman (1944-) is Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago since 1973.

A self-styled libertarian, he is interested in how social/legislative progams create economic outcomes. For example, his race-related research during the 1970s concluded that social programs rather than tight labor markets or education were resposible for the increase in black employment during the 1960s. In general, he is opposed to economic controls such as minimum wages or union wage scales, and is strongly equivocal about affirmative action programs.

In 2000, Heckman shared the Nobel Memorial Price in Economics with Professor Daniel McFadden "for his development of theory and methods for analyzing selective samples."

As well as his chair in economics, he is:
 * Director, Economics Research Center at the University of Chicago
 * Director, Center for Social Program Evaluation at the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago
 * Senior Research Fellow, American Bar Foundation
 * Advisory Board, Institute for New Economic Thinking

He worked as a consultant for the RAND Corporation, 1975-1976.