THE OFFICIAL page of the Economics Department at the University of California, Berkeley. Vi In that year, the Department of Economics at U.C. graduates.
Economics at the University of California didn’t even begin as “economics”. It was first known as “Political Economy” and claimed a single faculty member. Before 1903, all faculty who taught anything related to economics did so as members of the Departments of History or Political Science. Berkeley was born. Our penchant for innovation started right from our inception: we were one of the first dep
04/17/2025
Looking for your next great read? 📚✨
Explore the books — picked by students, faculty, and staff — on UC Berkeley’s Summer Reading List, including:
🐻 “Stay True” by Hua Hsu (Cal alum + Pulitzer winner)
🌾 “Foster” by Claire Keegan
🤖 “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers
🕊️ “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah
❄️ “Snow Falling on Cedars” by David Guterson
🔗 reading.berkeley.edu
05/15/2023
Join us for the live stream of the 2023 graduating Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley class graduation! We will be joined by Governor Lisa D. Cook as the commencement speaker.
2023 UC Berkeley Economics Commencement Ceremony Monday, May 15 at 2pm at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley
03/09/2023
Today is Big Give! Make your gift before 9 PM Pacific to help us qualify for a $10,000 matching gift. Your donation of any amount helps us get there! Thanks to everyone who has given close to $3,000 so far towards the match. Please share and give here:
Big Give 2023 Now is the time to give!
12/12/2022
The Effect of Macroeconomic Uncertainty on Household Spending Using a new survey of European households, we study how exogenous variation in the macroeconomic uncertainty perceived by households affects their spending decisions. We use randomized information treatments that provide different types of information about the first and/or second moments of future....
11/10/2022
Join us on November 29! Register here: https://Stone2022.eventbrite.com
Around 1870 came a great shift: invention sprinted forward, doubling our technological capabilities each generation, utterly transforming the economy again and again. The possibility of being able in the not-too-distant future of baking a sufficiently large economic pie for everyone to someday have enough came into view. Surely then we would be able to shift governance and politics so that we could collectively build a utopia? Surely it was the baking of the sufficiently large economic pie that was the large problem. Surely the slicing and tasting the pie—equitably distributing humanity’s immense technology-enabled wealth, and utilizing it so that people felt safe and secure and were healthy and happy—were second-order, more-easily-solved problems?
Join us for a talk by Berkeley Economics Professor Brad DeLong, followed by audience Q&A. The event will be followed by a reception. Live-streaming available as well.
This event is sponsored by The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality at UC Berkeley.
The Annual Stone Lecture: Slouching Towards Utopia image
‘Learnedly and grippingly tells the story of how all the economic growth since 1870 has created a global economy that today satisfies no one's ideas of fairness. The long journey... will continue…’—Thomas Piketty
"A magisterial history."—Paul Krugman
“If you want to follow the conversation right now on global economic history, you should check out Brad DeLong’s Slouching Towards Utopia.”―Adam Tooze, on The Ezra Klein Show
“Deeply engaging…a work of strikingly expansive breadth and scope.”―Benjamin M. Friedman, Harvard Magazine
“Slouching Towards Utopia is an impressive achievement, written with wit and style and a formidable command of detail.” ―The Economist
The James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality at UC Berkeley was created to serve as a research hub for campus and beyond, enabling UC Berkeley’s world-leading scholars to deepen our understanding of the inequality in society and formulate new approaches to address the challenge of creating a more equitable society. The Center serves as the primary convening point at UC Berkeley for research, teaching and data development concerning the causes, nature, and consequences of wealth and income inequalities with a special emphasis on the concentration of wealth at the very top.
The June 2022 econ newsletter is out! Check it out here: https://www.econ.berkeley.edu/newsletter
05/23/2022
Historical confirmation: Berkeley Economics alumna Lisa Cook becomes first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board. Read the article:
Historical confirmation: Berkeley Economics alumna Lisa Cook becomes first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve Board | Letters & Science May 23, 2022Michelle PhillipsOn May 10, 2022, Dr. Lisa DeNell Cook, UC Berkeley alumna, was confirmed to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Fed in its 108-year history. As governor, Cook will take part in setting U.S. monetary policy an...
03/09/2022
Support Berkeley Economics on Big Give!
is almost here! Tomorrow (3/9) from 9 p.m. PT through 3/10, follow this link to donate to Berkeley Economics and you will be able to see in real time how your contribution adds up! Our students, faculty, and staff appreciate your generosity.
Cal Big Give 2022 Get ready to give March 10!
02/27/2022
Global wealth, gender and carbon injustice Global wealth, gender and carbon injustice: new findings from the World Inequality Report 2022
01/12/2022
Congratulations Professor Pierre-Olivier, who has been named the new Chief Economist of the IMF. You can read more here:
Berkeley economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas named to high-level IMF post As IMF’s new chief economist, he “brings a stellar track record of scholarship and intellectual leadership.”
03/18/2021
🚨 TODAY! 🚨
How can libraries build sustainable Central Asian collections? 📜🌏📚
ONLINE: Find out how in a talk with faculty, librarians, and researchers from around the country.
🗓 11 a.m. TODAY
🔗 ucberk.li/the-other-asia-event
(s/o UC Berkeley, IU Libraries, James Madison University, Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, UW-Madison Libraries, UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Department, Berkeley Comparative Literature)