FRONTIER RESEARCH, GLOBAL IMPACT.

UChicago's Hub for Economic Research and Analysis

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Announcing Wealth250

In 1776, Adam Smith asked what causes the wealth of nations - and changed the world. BFl marks the 250th anniversary of The Wealth of Nations with a yearlong series of events, essays, and scholarly inquiry into the foundation, frontier, and future of economics.

Latest Insights

The latest economic commentary from UChicago's leading scholars, fellows, and special guests. Featuring Research Briefs, Interactive Charts, Videos, Podcasts, and more.
Research Briefs·Jun 3, 2026

Does Scarcity Tax Parents’ Minds?

When financial scarcity prevents parents from reading with their children, the bottleneck is reduced attention rather than lessened self-control, driven by the felt experience of scarcity.
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Research Briefs·May 27, 2026

Consuming Values

When firms take controversial social stances, consumers most aligned with the stance increase their spending significantly, while those most opposed reduce theirs, although at a lower rate; these behaviors persist beyond the initial announcement.
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Podcasts episode·May 26, 2026

Tied to the Job: The Gains from Permanent Residency

When immigrant workers come to a country on a visa tied to a single employer, what is it worth to be free to switch jobs? In this episode, Chicago Booth economist Matt Notowidigdo discusses new research using Canadian administrative data...
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Research Briefs·May 21, 2026

Why Bans Fail: Tipping Points and Australia’s Social Media Ban

Roughly one in four 14-15-year-old Australian youth complied with a recent ban of social media, far below the two-thirds needed for young teenagers to consider compliance worthwhile. Current patterns suggest that compliance is more likely to diminish than to increase.
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Latest Frontier Research

The BFI Working Paper Series disseminates current research in economics to encourage comments and discussion.
BFI Working Paper·Jun 8, 2026

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence and Field Experiments to Explore Novel Features of Parental Speech and Foster Child Development

Parents play a critical role in shaping children’s skills during the first years of life. Yet, identifying the contributors to richer learning environments remains difficult due to various unobservable factors. In this paper, we combine field experiments with AI to...
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BFI Working Paper·Jun 8, 2026

Intergenerational Mobility in Late Qing Dynasty: Evidence from Northeast China

This paper examines intergenerational mobility across social classes during the late Qing dynasty employing a remarkable data set from Liaoning province in Northeast China. We identify two distinct epochs with markedly different mobility dynamics. Before 1850, mobility patterns exhibited stability...
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BFI Working Paper·Jun 2, 2026

Pricing and Production Without the Invisible Hand

Modern theories of the business cycle do not allow for the simultaneous rational choice of both prices and quantities, instead assuming that an “invisible hand” determines one of these variables to clear markets. In this paper, we develop a macroeconomic...
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Past Events

Jun 5
Academic Conferences·Jun 5, 2026, 9:00 AM·Encina Hall - 616 Jane Stanford Way C100, Oksenberg Room (3rd Floor), Stanford, CA 94305

2026 IOG Summer Conference

by Marianne Bertrand, Oeindrila Dube, James Fearon, Roger Myerson, Torsten Persson, and Francesco Trebbi
May 28
Academic Conferences·May 28, 2026, 12:00 AM

2026 Conference on the Economics of Crime and Justice

by Jeffrey Grogger, Tom Kirchmaier, and Stephen Machin
May 27
Academic Conferences·May 27, 2026, 8:00 AM·David Rubenstein Forum, 5th floor, 1201 E 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

Modeling Climate-Economic Dynamics Workshop for Young Scholars

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Upcoming Events

Jun 14
Academic Conferences·Jun 14, 2026, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago

2026 Price Theory Summer Camp

Organizers: Luis Garicano and Erik Hurst
Jul 9
Academic Conferences·Jul 9, 2026, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum | Room 601 1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

2026 Early Career Behavioral Economics Conference

Organizers: Cuimin Ba, John Conlon, Luca Henkel, Alex Imas, Andreas Kraft, and Mattie Toma
Aug 20
Academic Conferences·Aug 20, 2026, 9:00 AM·University of Chicago | David Rubenstein Forum | Room 601 1201 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

Economic Theory Conference XI

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About BFI

BFI serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire University of Chicago economics community.
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About the Becker Friedman Institute

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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Our Legacy

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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University of Chicago faculty members and other accomplished economists set the goals and direction of the Institute.
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