AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES J. HECKMAN

Abstract

James Heckman is one of the most important and influential scholars to have graced the economics profession. His work is deeply rooted at the intersection of economic theory and empirical microeconomics, and he has made significant contributions to the study of labor economics, microeconometrics, and the use of micro data in macroeconomic analysis. Heckman's work is motivated by the scientific method, in which theory is held up to the scrutiny of the data and empirical analysis is informed by economic theory. During the course of his work, he has made lasting contributions to the study of sample selection bias, duration analysis, heterogeneity, and treatment effects in microeconometrics. In labor economics, he has applied these econometric methods to the study of labor supply and life-cycle dynamic models of unemployment, wage growth, and skill formation. In addition, he is the leading scholar on the evaluation of active labor market programs. As an applied microeconomist, one cannot do research on labor supply, sample selection, duration models, or life-cycle dynamics without encountering Jim Heckman's work.