UChicago awards named professorships to four economists

The University of Chicago has awarded new named professorships to four economists whose work spans labor markets, education, economic history and firm behavior.

Christopher Walters was appointed the Daniel Gressel professor of economics in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.

Walters studies labor economics and the economics of education, with a focus on human capital and program evaluation. He previously taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and serves as an editor of the Journal of Political Economy.

At the university’s Booth School of Business, Richard Hornbeck, Kilian Huber and Bradley Shapiro also received named professorships.

Hornbeck is an economic historian whose research examines the long-run development of the U.S. economy and regional inequality. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and joined Booth in 2015 from Harvard University.

Huber’s work analyzes how firms respond to financial markets, credit shocks and discrimination. He previously held a fellowship at the Becker Friedman Institute and earned his doctorate from the London School of Economics.

Shapiro studies industrial organization and advertising economics, with applications to health insurance and digital markets. He teaches marketing and economics courses and serves as a journal editor.

The four appointments were effective Jan. 1.