Author

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Robert J. LaLonde

Professor, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

Robert J. LaLonde, a professor in the Harris School, focuses on program evaluation, education and training of the workforce, economic effects of immigration on developed countries, costs of worker displacement, impact of unions and collective bargaining in the United States, and economic and social consequences of incarceration. LaLonde has led research projects examining women in Illinois prisons and their children, and the employment prospects of young men after they are paroled from prison. He received his PhD in economics from Princeton University and joined the University of Chicago in 1985, where he first taught for ten years at both the Graduate School of Business and the Harris School. Previously, LaLonde was an associate professor of economics at Michigan State University. He has been a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and served as a senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers during the 1987-1988 academic year. Currently he is a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and at Public/Private Ventures, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of social policies, programs, and community initiatives.

Related to Robert J. LaLonde

Earnings Gains of Displaced Workers in Technical Fields versus Other Fields

November 30, 2011 • Charts

Retraining in technical fields provides higher returns for workers than retraining in non-technical classes.

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Policies to Reduce High-Tenured Displaced Workers’ Earnings Losses Through Retraining

Papers • November 2011 • Louis S. Jacobson, Daniel G. Sullivan, Robert J. LaLonde

After being displaced from long-tenured jobs, workers often experience persistent, significant earnings losses. New research suggests that retraining in certain “high-return” fields can substantially reduce these losses. In a new Hamilton Project paper, Louis S. Jacobson, Robert J. LaLonde and Daniel G. Sullivan propose the establishment of a Displaced Worker Training (DWT) Program to distribute grants to displaced workers so they can obtain longer-term training to substantially increase their earnings. The DWT Program would also leverage the nation’s One-Stop Career Centers to assess and counsel grantees.

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Hard Times, Solid Policies to Renew American Communities

Events • October 13, 2010 • Washington, DC

Governor Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.) joined former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, New York City Deputy Mayor Steve Goldsmith, and other experts in a Hamilton Project forum focused on policy solutions for renewing American communities. The Hamilton Project released a strategy paper and three new proposals that provide a range of options for helping communities and workers recover from recent economic shocks.

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Retraining Displaced Workers

Papers • October 2010 • Louis S. Jacobson, Daniel G. Sullivan, Robert J. LaLonde

Robert LaLonde of the University of Chicago and Daniel Sullivan of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago suggest that retraining through our nation’s community colleges is a way to reduce the skills gaps of at least some of these displaced workers and increase their reemployment earnings.