Daron Acemoglu is the Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics in the Department of Economics at MIT.

He received a BA in economics at the University of York, 1989, MSc in mathematical economics and econometrics at the London School of Economics, 1990, and PhD in economics at the London School of Economics in 1992.

He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Econometric Society, the European Economic Association and the Society of Labor Economists. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the inaugural T. W. Shultz Prize from the University of Chicago in 2004, and the inaugural Sherwin Rosen Award for outstanding contribution to labor economics in 2004, Distinguished Science Award from the Turkish Sciences Association in 2006, the John von Neumann Award, Rajk College, Budapest in 2007. In 2005, he was also awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, given every two years to the best economist in the United States under the age of 40 by the American Economic Association, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Utrecht.

His research interests include political economy, economic development and growth, human capital theory, growth theory, innovation, search theory, network economics and learning.

David Autor is a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, faculty research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Economic Perspectives (published by the American Economic Association). He has also served on the Board of Editors at the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Journal of Labor Economics.

Autor received a BA in psychology with a minor in computer science from Tufts University in 1989 and a PhD in public policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999.

His current fields of specialization include human capital and earnings inequality, labor market impacts of technological change, disability insurance and labor supply, and temporary help and other intermediated work arrangements, and health, disability and labor supply.

Autor is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award for his research on labor market intermediation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, and the Sherwin Rosen Prize in 2008 for outstanding contributions in the field of labor economics. He is also a fellow at the Society of Labor Economists and was a recipient of both the John T. Dunlop Outstanding Scholar Award given by the Labor and Employment Relations Association (2006) and MIT Undergraduate Economics Association Teaching Award (2005).

Autor is currently a member of the American Economic Association’s Standing Committee on Oversight and Operation of Programs (SCOOP). Prior to obtaining his PhD, Autor spent three years directing efforts in San Francisco and South Africa to teach computer skills to economically disadvantaged children and adults.

University of Wisconsin, BBA ‘69, Personnel Management, MS ‘71, PhD ‘73, Industrial Relations

Thomas Kochan is an expert source on labor relations, collective bargaining, human resource management, regulatory policies, and unemployment. In particular, Kochan focuses on the need to update America's work and employment policies, institutions, and practices to catch up with a changing workforce and economy. His recent work calls attention to the challenges facing working families in meeting their responsibilities at work and at home and in their communities. Through empirical research, he demonstrates that fundamental changes in the quality of employee and labor-management relations are needed to address America's critical problems in industries ranging from health care to airlines to manufacturing. His newest book is titled, Restoring the American Dream: A Working Families' Agenda for America (MIT Press, September 2005).

Richard Schmalensee is the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Economics and Management and director of the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research. He served as the John C. Head III Dean of the MIT Sloan School of Management from 1998-2007. He was a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1989-1991 and Deputy Dean of MIT Sloan from 1996-1998.

Schmalensee is the author or co-author of 11 books and more than 120 published articles, and he is co-editor of volumes I and II of the Handbook of Industrial Organization. His research has centered on industrial organization economics and its application to managerial and public policy issues, with particular emphasis on antitrust, regulatory and environmental policies. His recent work has focused on multisided platform businesses. Schmalensee is a member of the International Academy of Management and the National Commission on Energy Policy and a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on several corporate boards and is currently a director of the International Data Group and chairman of the Editorial Board of Competition Policy International.