Eric Hanushek

Expertise: Economics of education; applied public finance and public policy analysis, with special emphasis on education issues

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He has been a leader in the development of economic analysis of educational issues. His research spans the most important areas of education policy including the impact on achievement of teacher quality, high stakes accountability, and class size reduction. His pioneering analysis measuring teacher quality on the basis of student achievement forms the foundation for current research into the value-added of teachers and schools. His work on efficiency and resource usage is central to current debates about school finance adequacy and equity and has been applied frequently in litigation. His analyses of economic growth and the economic impact of school outcomes have entered into the design of both national and international educational policy.

He is 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. He currently serves as chair of the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences.

His forthcoming book, Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses: Solving the Funding-Achievement Puzzle in America's Public Schools, describes how improved school finance policies can be used to meet our achievement goals. Prior books include Courting Failure, Handbook on the Economics of Education, The Economics of Schooling and School Quality, Assessing Policies for Retirement Income, Improving America's Schools, Assessing Knowledge of Retirement Behavior, Modern Political Economy, Making Schools Work, Educational Performance of the Poor, Improving Information for Social Policy Decisions, Statistical Methods for Social Scientists, and Education and Race. along with numerous widely-cited articles in professional journals.

He previously held academic appointments at the University of Rochester, Yale University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Government service includes being Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Senior Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers, and Senior Economist at the Cost of Living Council. He has been appointed to a variety of policy commissions including the Governor’s Committee on Education Excellence in California and the Governor’s Commission for a College Ready Texas. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the International Academy of Education along with being a fellow of the Society of Labor Economists and the American Education Research Association. He was awarded the Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in 2004.

He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and completed his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965-1974.