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Leonardo Bursztyn

Professor

Saieh Family Professor

University of Chicago Department of Economics

Leonardo Bursztyn is the Saieh Family Professor in Economics and the College at the University of Chicago and a Faculty Affiliate of The Pearson Institute. His research interests include political economy, development economics, and behavioral economics. His current research uses field experiments to understand how individuals make schooling, consumption, political, and financial decisions—and in particular how these decisions are shaped by individuals’ social environments.

Bursztyn's research has been published in leading academic journals, including Econometrica, American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, and Journal of Political Economy. He is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and an affiliate at the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). He is also the recipient of a 2016 Sloan Research Fellowship.

Bursztyn joined the University of Chicago Department of Economics in 2016 after serving as Assistant Professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management since 2010. He received a PhD in economics from Harvard University in 2010.

Baidoa, Somalia

Makeshift, temporary shelter made of plastic and clothing at a refugee center in Baidoa, Somalia.