The Department of Economics has announced David Autor as the inaugural holder of the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professorship in Economics, effective July 1.
The endowed chair is made possible by the generosity of Daniel and Gail Rubinfeld. Daniel Rubinfeld SM ’68, PhD ’72 is the Robert L. Bridges Professor of Law and professor of economics emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley, and professor of law emeritus at New York University.
“The Rubinfeld Professorship in Economics is important for two reasons,” Rubinfeld says. “First, it allows MIT to wisely manage its resources. Second, as an economist, I believe it’s efficient for the economics department to plan for the long term, which this endowment allows.”
MIT will use the fund to provide a full professorship for senior faculty in the Department of Economics. Faculty with research and teaching interests in the area of applied microeconomics will receive first preference.
David Autor’s scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes. He is a faculty co-director of the recently-launched MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative.
“I am privileged to be the inaugural holder of the Rubinfeld Professorship in Economics, honoring Daniel Rubinfeld’s illustrious career of scholarship and public service. As the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor of Economics, I aim to honor Dan Rubinfeld’s legacy by contributing in both domains,” Autor says.
Prior to Berkeley and NYU, Rubinfeld previously spent 11 years teaching at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Rubinfeld has been a fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Rubinfeld previously served as deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jon Gruber, department chair and Ford Professor of Economics, says the Rubinfelds’ gift illustrates two important lessons.
“The first is the ongoing power of the MIT education — Daniel’s PhD helped him to build an important career both inside and outside of academia, and this gift will help ensure others continue to benefit from this powerful experience,” says Gruber. “The second is the importance of support directly to the economics department at this time of rapidly growing costs of research.”
“Nothing ensures the future strength of an academic department as much as endowed professorships,” adds Agustin Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. “This seminal gift by Gail and Daniel Rubinfeld will have a lasting impact on the success of MIT economics for decades to come. We are deeply grateful for their generous investment in the department.”
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 Anniversary 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 recognized as one of two NOMIS Distinguished Scientists.
Autor earned a BA in psychology from Tufts University in 1989 and a PhD in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999.