Ufuk Akcigit

Professor Ufuk Akcigit is the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He leads the international team of economists who developed the methodology behind the Small Business Index, author its annual report, and continue to collaborate with Intuit QuickBooks, a leader in accounting software for small businesses, to provide fresh insights and enhancements.

Read more about Prof. Akcigit's career and achievements below.

Career

Ufuk Akcigit is the Arnold C. Harberger Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He is an elected Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Center for Economic Policy Research, and the Center for Economic Studies, Research Professor and the Head of the “East-West Germany Economic Gap” Research Group at the Halle Institute for Economic Research in Germany. He has received a BA in economics at Koc University, 2003, and Ph.D. in economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009. As a macroeconomist, Akcigit’s research centers on economic growth, technological creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, productivity, and firm dynamics.

Awards and fellowships include

• Kiel Institute’s Global Economy Prize, 2022
• Sakip Sabanci International Research Award, 2022
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 2021
• Econometric Society Fellow, 2021
• Elected Member of the Turkish Academy of Sciences, 2021
• Max Plank-Humboldt Research Award, 2019
• Asaf Savas Akat Economics Prize, 2019
• National Science Foundation CAREER Grant, 2017
• Kiel Institute Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs, 2016
• Kauffman Foundation's Junior Faculty Grant, 2014

Appointments include

• Research Professor, Head of the Research Group (The Economic Gap between East and West Germany), Halle Institute, Germany, since 2020
• Senior Research Fellow, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, since 2020
• Research Network Fellow, CESifo, Munich, since 2019
• Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, since 2018
• Research Affiliate, Center for Economic Policy Research, since 2016
• Distinguished Research Fellow, Koc University, Istanbul, from 2016 to 2021
• Senior Research Fellow, Brookings Institute, from 2019 to 2021 
• Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, from 2010 to 2018

Publications include

Books

• The Economics of Creative Destruction (editor with John Van Reenen), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2023

Journal articles 

• “Connecting to Power: Political Connections, Innovation,” and Firm Dynamics (with Salome Baslandze and Francesca Lotti), Econometrica, 2023
• “What Happened to U.S. Business Dynamism?” (with Sina Ates), Journal of Political Economy, 2023
• “Optimal Taxation and R&D Policies,” (with Douglas Hanley and Stefanie Stantcheva). Econometrica, 2022
• “Taxation and Innovation in the 20th Century,” (with John Grigsby, Tom Nicholas, and Stefanie Stantcheva), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2022
• “Radical and Incremental Innovation: The Roles of Firms, Managers and Innovators,” (with Daron Acemoglu and Murat Alp Celik), American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2022
• “Synergizing Ventures,” (with Emin Dinlersoz, Jeremy Greenwood, Veronika Penciakova). Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 2022
• “Ten Facts on Declining Business Dynamism and Lessons from Endogenous Growth Theory,”  (with Sina Ates), American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 2021
• “Back to Basics: Basic Research Spillovers, Innovation Policy and Growth,” (with Douglas Hanley and Nicolas Serrano-Velarde). Review of Economic Studies, 2021
• “Lack of Selection and Limits to Delegation: Firm Dynamics in Developing Countries,” (with Harun Alp and Michael Peters). American Economic Review, 2021
• “Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations,” (with William Kerr). Journal of Political Economy, 2018
• “Economic Growth: The Past, the Present, and the Future,” Journal of Political Economy, 2017
• “Taxation and the International Mobility of Inventors,” (with Salome Baslandze and Stefanie Stantcheva), American Economic Review, 2016
• “Transition to Clean Technology,” (with Daron Acemoglu, Douglas Hanley and William Kerr), Journal of Political Economy, 2016
• “Intellectual Property Rights Policy, Competition and Innovation,” (with Daron Acemoglu), Journal of the European Economic Association, 2012

Speeches and presentations include

• American Economic Association Meetings, 2009-2022
• Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Wyoming, 2020
• European Commission Conference, Brussels, 2020
• IMF-OECD-World Bank Conference on Structural Reforms, Paris, France, 2018

More information

Get more information about the international team of independent economists, academics, and researchers working with Professor Akcigit on the About the Team page.

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