Latest Insights

Research Briefs·Oct 30, 2025

Jealousy of Trade: Exclusionary Preferences and Economic Nationalism

Many voters support tariffs and protectionist policies that materially hurt them because they derive value from consuming or possessing goods that others want but do not have. Individuals with such “exclusionary preferences” are significantly more willing to accept higher prices...
Podcasts episode·Oct 28, 2025

Economic Cheat Codes: How Game Theory Can Help You Win at Work, Love, and Life

The secret to winning in a rigged economy isn’t changing the rules, argues Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather, but mastering the game. In this episode, Fairweather, the first Black woman to earn a PhD from UChicago’s Economics Department, reveals economic...
Research Briefs·Oct 23, 2025

Five Facts about the First-Generation Excellence Gap

First-generation students—those whose parents lack college degrees—represent 70% of the student population but only 40% of top academic performers. Large excellence gaps emerge by 3rd grade and persist through high school, with socioeconomic status and school quality explaining only one-third...
Research Briefs·Oct 22, 2025

Firms Have Partial Knowledge: Evidence from a Reform

A pricing reform in Israeli supermarkets that forced firms to adjust prices revealed that they operated with only partial knowledge of optimal pricing. When forced to explore new pricing strategies, firms gradually learned and improved performance, though meaningful deviations from...

Latest Frontier Research

BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2025

Jealousy of Trade: Exclusionary Preferences and Economic Nationalism

This paper presents a new framework for understanding economic nationalism based on an empirically-validated desire for dominance, which generates a preference for exclusionary policies. We incorporate such preferences into a model of international trade. The model predicts that exclusionary preferences...
BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2025

Who Pays for Tariffs Along the Supply Chain? Evidence from European Wine Tariffs

This paper examines the effects of tariffs along the supply chain using product-level data from a large U.S. wine importer in the context of the 2019-2021 U.S. tariffs on European wines. By combining confidential transaction prices with foreign suppliers and...
BFI Working Paper·Oct 21, 2025

Option Value of Apex Predators: Evidence from a River Discontinuity

“Option value” provides theoretical justification for conserving wildlife species lacking known value, but empirical assessments of actual realizations are rare. We examine quasi-option value in the context of gray wolf eradication, which aimed to protect humans and their property historically,...

Past Events

Nov 3
Academic Conferences·Nov 3, 2025, 12:00 PM·Harper Center Room 3B

Fall 2025 Behavioral Economics Seminar Series

by Francesca Bastianello and Avner Strulov-Shlain
Oct 31
Workshops·Oct 31, 2025, 12:30 PM·Saieh Hall for Economics, Rm 021 , 5757 S. University, Chicago, IL, United States, 60637

Development Lunch Workshop – Fall 2025

by Joshua Dean, Erin M. Kelley, and Eduardo Montero
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Upcoming Events

Nov 3
Academic Conferences·Nov 3, 2025, 12:00 PM·Harper Center Room 3B

Fall 2025 Behavioral Economics Seminar Series

Organizers: Francesca Bastianello and Avner Strulov-Shlain
Nov 4
Becker Brown Bag·Nov 4, 2025, 3:30 PM·Harper Center, Room C02 5807 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, IL 60637

BFI Student Event – The Transformation of Capitalism

Nov 7
Academic Conferences·Nov 7, 2025, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum | Room 601 1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

2025 Social Economics Conference

Organizers: Leonardo Bursztyn
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About BFI

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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire University of Chicago economics community, uniting researchers from the Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the...
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Inspired by our namesakes, Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, who believed that economics research could help improve the world, BFI works with the Chicago Economics community to turn its evidence-based research into real-world impact.

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