Steven J. Davis studies employment outcomes, business dynamics, product pricing and design, tax effects on work activity, and comparisons of national economic performance. In addition to a basic understanding of the big macroeconomic issues, Davis hopes his students learn "an informed skepticism about data and economic argumentation and an analytical approach that they can apply to business and economic problems in their careers."
Davis held positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Milken Institute for Job and Capital Formation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is also the recipient of a Kauffman Foundation Grant, several National Science Foundation Grants, as well as grants from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Labor.
In addition to publication in numerous academic journals, Davis has published in many mainstream publications such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on several live television and radio broadcasts.
Davis is a non-resident visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a research associate with the National Bureau of Economics, and a member of the Panel on Measuring Business Formation, Dynamics, and Performance at the National Academy of Sciences. During a leave of absence, he was vice president in the Competition Practice at CRA International, an economics consulting firm. "This practical experience has taught me that there is a market for analytical thinking skills, the hallmark of Chicago Booth education," he said.
As a young man interested in economic, political, and social issues, Davis came to the view that economics offered greater insight into these issues and a more powerful set of tools for understanding economic and social behavior. He pursued graduate studies in economics with the intention of "learning how to think." Davis earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Portland State University in Oregon in 1980, and a master's degree in 1981 and a PhD in 1986, both in economics from Brown University. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1985.
Selected Publications
With J. Haltiwanger and S. Schuh, Job Creation and Destruction (MIT Press, 1996).
With K. Murphy and R. Topel, "Entry, Pricing and Product Design in an Initially Monopolized Market," Journal of Political Economy (2004).
With J. Kahn, "Interpreting the Great Moderation: Changes in the Volatility of Economic Activity at the Micro and Macro Levels," Journal of Economic Perspectives (2008).
With others, "Electricity Pricing to U.S. Manufacturing Plants, 1963-2000" (2008).
With others, "Private Equity and Employment" (2008).
