Hoover Fellow Edward Lazear Awarded Jacob Mincer Prize by Society of Labor Economists; Hoover Fellows Hall, Hanushek, and MaCurdy Elected Fellows of Society.

STANFORD, Calif. -- Edward Lazear, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and a Hoover senior fellow on leave, is the recipient of the 2006 Society of Labor Economists' Jacob Mincer Prize honoring lifetime achievements in the field of labor economics.

At the same meeting of the society, during May 5 and 6, three Hoover senior fellows -- Robert Hall, Eric Hanushek, and Thomas MaCurdy -- were among the fellows elected. By granting them the honorary title of fellow, the society recognizes labor economists who have made contributions of unusual distinction to the field.

"We are proud that the Society of Labor Economists has honored these four Hoover fellows for their exemplary achievements," said Hoover director John Raisian. "I have always felt that Hoover is very strong in the areas of labor market analysis and the importance of human capital accumulation in society. These scholars have distinguished themselves over the years, and it is gratifying to have the society recognize their contributions."

Lazear is the Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources, Management and Economics at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He taught previously at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, where he was the Brown Professor of Urban and Labor Economics.

Founding editor of the Journal of Labor Economics, he is also an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2000), the Econometric Society, and the Society of Labor Economists. He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Board on Testing and Assessment. His research is currently supported by the National Science Foundation. Lazear was first vice-president and then president of the Society of Labor Economists.

His book Personnel Economics (MIT Press, 1995) expands on his 1993 Wicksell Lectures. He edited Economic Transition in Eastern Europe and Russia: Realities of Reform (Hoover Institution Press, 1995). Coauthor or coeditor of four other books, Lazear's newest edited volume is Education in the Twenty-first Century (Hoover Institution Press, 2002). He also edited the textbook Personnel Economics for Managers (Wiley, 1998). Other recent publications include Culture Wars in America (Hoover Essays in Public Policy, 1996).

The Mincer Prize is awarded annually to two social scientists in recognition of their contributions. The other winner is Richard B. Freeman, Harvard University.

Hoover fellow Robert Hall holds a joint position endowed by Robert and Carole McNeil as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor in the economics department at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Econometric Society. Hall, an active proponent of the flat tax, cowrote The Flat Tax (Hoover Institution Press, 1985 and 1995).

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is also chairman of the Executive Committee for the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a member of the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. In 2004, he was appointed as a member of the National Board for Education Sciences for a two-year term, along with two other Koret Task Force members. He was recently appointed to the California's Governor's Advisory Committee on Education Excellence.

Thomas MaCurdy holds a joint appointment as the Dean Witter Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor of economics at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1978. He is also a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research, an adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The Society of Labor Economists was founded in 1996 to promote the study of labor economics and to make more significant the contribution of labor economics and labor economists. The Journal of Labor Economics is the official journal of the society.