#  Seminars: Public Economics 

 



 ##  

  expand\_more  

 
  

 

SortSeminar in Public Economics**Term: Spring 2026****Location:** Littauer Center 301, Hansen Mason Lounge (unless noted otherwise\*)**Meeting Time: Wednesday** 4:30 PM - 5:45 PM (unless noted otherwise\*)**Description:** Invited speakers present theoretical and empirical research on a broad range of topics related to the design of government policy.

**List Serve/Announcements:** [Join Public Economics Listserv ](https://web.lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/lists/publicecon-seminar-list.lists.fas.harvard.edu/)

**Coordinator:** [Ursula Ferraro](mailto:uferraro@fas.harvard.edu)

**Notes:**  The seminars in Labor Economics and Public Economics meet jointly through the semester on Mondays and Wednesdays.

**\*Joint with Opportunity Insights:**

2/11 Wednesday 4:30-5:45pm, Littauer 301

2/24 Tuesday 12:00 - 1:15 PM, OI

3/11 Wednesday 4:30-5:45pm, OI







SortDATESPEAKERTITLE (some are preliminary)February 4

[Abi Adams](https://abiadams.com/) (Northwestern University)

["The Economic Impacts of Rape"](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-01/The%20Economic%20Impacts%20of%20Rape.docx) (with K. Huttunen, E. Nix & N. Zhang)

February 11**\***

[Robert Dur](https://www.eur.nl/en/people/robert-dur) (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

["Tax Misperceptions and Labor Supply: A Two-Wave Survey Experiment" ](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-02/Tax%20Misperceptions%20and%20Labor%20Supply.pdf)(with Job Harms and Arjan Non)

February 18

[Luis Armona](https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/luis-armona) (Harvard Kennedy School) 

["Second-Best Amendment: Market Power and Tax Design in the Firearms Industry"](https://luisarmona.github.io/research/secondbest.pdf) (with Adam M. Rosenberg)

February 24**\* Tuesday**

[Anton Korinek](https://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty-research/directory/anton-korinek) (University of Virginia) 

["Public finance in the age of AI: A primer"](https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Korinek-Lockwood-FINAL-for-website.pdf) (with Lee M. Lockwood)

March 4

[Lorenzo Lagos](https://sites.google.com/view/lorenzolagos/home) (Brown University)

["What Do (Thousands of) Unions Do? Union-Specific Pay Premia and Inequality"](https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.dropbox.com_scl_fi_zhjlgmxcuk189o5rfc11j_UnionFE.pdf-3Frlkey-3D3ewgtzqxzauziis9igsp1fx3j-26st-3Dgzbg714f-26dl-3D0&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=agJrBr__bGe9iI7OPFm6vr1XKcla__OnqU0z2AH8z4U&m=ylqb38TFsHw7jPS2Vn14y1Lfjwk3yeHRNi3rSVunXsy-QMLEyewWI0UKmITEGD2J&s=1BpJzZGrVZqDGQtDZiFdOd67tgzCXDnPa_UZiVQrebo&e=) (with E. Derenoncourt, F. Gerard, and C. Montialoux)

March 11**\***

[Eric Zwick](https://www.ericzwick.com/) (University of Chicago Booth School of Business) and [Owen Zidar ](https://zidar.princeton.edu/)(Princeton)

*The Everywhere Millionaire: Who is Really Rich and How They Got There*

March 18

No Seminar - Spring Break

N/A

March 25

[Pauline Mourot](https://www.paulinemourot.com/) (Boston University)

[“Should Top Surgeons Practice at Top Hospitals? Sorting and Complementarities in Healthcare”](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-03/Should%20Top%20Surgeons%20Practice%20at%20Top%20Hospitals....pdf)

April 1

[Darrick Hamilton](https://www.newschool.edu/nssr/faculty/darrick-hamilton/) (The New School)

[“Race, Power and Political Economy: Understanding the Causes, Consequences and Remedies to Persistent Group-Based Disparities”](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-04/Race%2C%20Power%20and%20Political%20Economy.pdf)

April 8

[Rebecca Diamond](http://rebecca-diamond.com/) (Harvard University)

["Racial Differences in the Total Rate of Return on Owner-Occupied Housing"](https://hu-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/rdiamond_fas_harvard_edu/IQCRiUbLMu7eR6_WNGJbD_woAYCkSi5PLz6eICRfmYfrvV4) (with William Diamond)

April 22

[Suresh Naidu](https://econ.columbia.edu/econpeople/suresh-naidu/) (Columbia University)

["Who Joins The Union? Gift-exchange and Free-riding Among Healthcare Workers"](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-04/Who%20Joins%20the%20Union.pdf)

April 29

[Trevon Logan](https://economics.osu.edu/people/logan.155) (Ohio State University)

[“Competition and Consumer Discrimination”](https://www.economics.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/2026-03/Competition%20and%20Consumer%20Discrimination.pdf) (with Maggie EC Jones, David Rose, and Lisa D. Cook)

May 6

[Cody Cook](https://www.cody-cook.com/) (Yale University)

["Where to Build Affordable Housing? Evaluating the Tradeoffs of Location"](https://www.cody-cook.com/papers/affordable_housing_location.pdf) (with Pearl Li and Ariel Binder)