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Professor Raj Chetty Named as MacArthur Foundation Fellow for 2012

Professor Raj Chetty Named as MacArthur Foundation Fellow for 2012

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named Harvard Economics Professor Raj Chetty as one of 23 new MacArthur Foundation Fellows for 2012.

Professor Chetty ’00, Ph.D. ’03, was one of two Harvard faculty members to receive the prestigious MacArthur “genius grants” this year.

The MacArthur Fellowships are no-strings-attached grants of $500,000, paid over five years, which recipients use to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional endeavors. Recipients are nominated for the awards anonymously and are not informed they are under consideration until they are notified by the MacArthur Foundation that they have won.

Professor Chetty is being recognized for his research on how policy decisions inform real-world behavior.  His work on topics such as unemployment, tax policy, and education has been widely cited in media outlets and Congressional testimony.

Professor Chetty is the fourth Economist from Harvard to receive the award in recent years.

Raj Chetty's faculty web page 

Harvard Gazette, October 1, 2012: "Economist, neurosurgeon win MacArthurs"

Harvard Magazine, October 2, 2012: "Raj Chetty and Benjamin Warf Win MacArthur Grants" 

MacArthur Fellows Program announcement, with video interview with Professor Raj Chetty

The New York Times, Oct. 2, 2012: "Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives"