Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland. She is also Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group; a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); and a non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings. She is a scholar affiliate and member of the board of the Notre Dame Wilson-Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO) and a scholar affiliate of the MIT Abdul Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). She is an editorial board member of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy and Journal of Economic Literature, and a former co-editor of the Journal of Human Resources and Senior Editor of the Future of Children, . She serves on the Board of MDRC and the Board of Governors of the Smith Richardson Foundation. Kearney served as Director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings from 2013-2015 and as co-chair of the JPAL State and Local Innovation Initiative from 2015-2018.

Kearney's academic research focuses on domestic policy issues, especially issues related to social policy, poverty, and inequality. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and has been frequently cited in the popular press. She has testified before Congress on the topic of U.S. income inequality. Kearney teaches Public Economics at both the undergraduate and PhD level at the University of Maryland. She holds a BA in Economics from Princeton University and a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied on a National Science Foundation graduate student fellowship and a Harry S Truman fellowship.

Areas of Interest

  • U.S. Poverty & Inequality
  • Social and Education Programs & Interventions
  • Children and families
  • The impact of economic conditions & government programs on low-income households

Degrees

  • Degree Type
    PhD
    Degree Details
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002
Course Name Course Title Semester Syllabus
ECON752 Public Economics II Spring 2023
ECON752 Public Economics II Spring 2022
ECON454 Public Finance and Public Policy Fall 2021
ECON752 Public Economics II Spring 2021

Related Students (Listed by Student on Student's Profile)

  • Luke Pardue
photo of professor melissa kearney
3115L Tydings Hall
Department of Economics
Email
kearney [at] umd.edu
Office Hours