Jere R. Behrman

Jere R. Behrman Jere R. Behrman is an American economist noted for empirical work on labor, health, and human capital in developing countries. He has combined approaches from econometrics, development economics, and demography while holding appointments at the University of Pennsylvania, contributing to policy discussions involving agencies such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the National Science Foundation.

Early life and education

Behrman was born in 1938 and raised in the United States, completing undergraduate studies before undertaking graduate training at the University of Chicago, where he was exposed to scholars from the Cowles Commission, the Chicago School of Economics, and the quantitative traditions associated with figures like Milton Friedman and T. W. Schultz. He earned a Ph.D. emphasizing applied microeconomic research that drew on methods used by economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the RAND Corporation. During his formative years he interacted with visiting scholars from institutions including Harvard University, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Academic career and positions

Behrman joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania and became a central figure in the Wharton School and the Population Studies Center at Penn, collaborating with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, the London School of Economics, and the Institute of Development Studies. He held visiting appointments and fellowships at organizations such as the Institute for Advanced Study, the Brookings Institution, and the Harvard Institute for International Development, and worked with programs affiliated with the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Development Programme. Over decades he served on editorial boards of journals associated with the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, and regional associations including the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association.

Research contributions and major works

Behrman’s research spans human capital formation, intra-household allocation, and long-term impacts of early-life interventions; his empirical studies often used longitudinal data from contexts such as Mexico, Chile, India, and Brazil. He applied identification strategies from the econometrics literature alongside field data analogous to work by scholars at the IFPRI, the World Bank, and the International Food Policy Research Institute. Major works include analyses of returns to schooling comparable to studies by Jacob Mincer and Gary Becker, evaluations of nutritional and health interventions resonant with research by James Heckman and Emmanuel Skoufias, and methodological contributions to panel data analysis in the tradition of the Econometric Society and Cowles Commission scholars. His publications appeared in outlets alongside articles published in journals connected to the American Economic Association, the Population Association of America, and interdisciplinary venues frequented by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Awards and honors

Behrman received recognition from academic and policy organizations including distinctions from the American Economic Association, the Population Association of America, and fellowships from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Foundation. His honors reflect engagement with networks involving the Royal Statistical Society, the Econometric Society, and international panels convened by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

Graduate students and mentorship

As a mentor at the University of Pennsylvania, Behrman supervised doctoral students who went on to positions at institutions such as Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and policy roles at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and regional development banks like the Inter-American Development Bank. His advisees have contributed to fields connected with work by scholars at the University of California, Berkeley, the London School of Economics, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Personal life and legacy

Behrman’s legacy includes methodological advances and policy-relevant evidence shaping debates in forums such as panels organized by the World Bank, the United Nations, and the Brookings Institution. His career intersects with the trajectories of economists like Theodore Schultz, Gary Becker, James J. Heckman, and practitioners at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the Population Council, securing his standing in communities linked to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. Category:American economists