David Autor

David H. Autor

Ford Professor of Economics

Research Fields

Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Public Economics

Bio

David Autor is Ford Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, codirector of the NBER Labor Studies Program and the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. His scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes. Autor has received numerous awards for both his scholarship—the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of Labor Economics, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2019, the Society for Progress Medal in 2021—and for his teaching, including the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship. In 2020, Autor received the Heinz 25th Special Recognition Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his work “transforming our understanding of how globalization and technological change are impacting jobs and earning prospects for American workers.” In 2023, Autor was selected as one of two researchers across all scientific fields a NOMIS Distinguished Scientist.

The Economist magazine labeled Autor in 2019 as “The academic voice of the American worker.” Later that same year, and with equal justification, he was christened “Twerpy MIT Economist” by John Oliver of Last Week Tonight in a segment on automation and employment.

Autor is an elected Fellow of the Econometrics Society, the Society of Labor Economists, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Faculty Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab. He is co-director of the NBER Labor Studies Program, Co-Director of the MIT School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative, and Scientific Advisor to the NBER Disability Research Center. His teaching awards include the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship for contributions to undergraduate education, the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for excellence in teaching, the Undergraduate Economic Association Teaching Award, and the Faculty Appreciation Award from the MIT TPP program.

Autor earned a B.A. in Psychology from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999. Prior to graduate study, he spent three years directing computer skills education for economically disadvantaged children and adults in San Francisco and South Africa. Autor is the captain of the MIT Economics hockey team, which is reputed to be one of the most highly cited teams in the MIT intramural league.

Publications of Note

Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Public Economics

Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation

Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(3), 3–30.
David H. Autor
August 2015
Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Public Economics, Political Economy

The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market

American Economic Review, 103(5), 1553–1597
David Autor, David Dorn
August 2013
Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Public Economics, Political Economy

The China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade

Annual Review of Economics, 8, 205–240.
David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon Hanson
August 2016
Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Public Economics

The Polarization of the U.S. Labor Market

American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, 96(2), 189–194
David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz, Melissa S. Kearney
May 2006
Macroeconomics, Labor Economics, Public Economics, Political Economy

Importing Political Polarization? The Electoral Consequences of Rising Trade Exposure

American Economic Review, 2020, 110(10), 3139–3183
David Autor, David Dorn, Gordon Hanson, Kaveh Majlesi
October 2020

Featured Awards & Honors

2020
Heinz 25th Anniversary Special Recognition award for "transforming understanding of how globalization and technological change are impacting jobs and earning prospects for American workers.”
2018
MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship
2019
Andrew Carnegie Fellowship (2019-2021)
2003
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (2003-2005)
2003
National Science Foundation CAREER Award