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Matthew Pesner is a 6th-year Ph.D. candidate in the department of economics at Vanderbilt University, and will be on the Job Market Fall, 2021 and available for interviews at the ASSA 2022 Virtual Annual Meeting. His research interests lie in the intersection of Public, Labor, and Economic History. Click here to see his job market paper and here for his CV.
Matthew's research revolves around understanding the development of public pensions and the safety net in the United States over the 20th century. His job market paper focusses on estimating how federalizing railroad retirement pensions in the mid-1930s affected retirement decisions, and what we can learn from this about pension incentives and labor supply more broadly. Other research focuses on significant changes to Social Security and Public Assistance programs in the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, these papers investigate how the state and federal governments interacted to finance these programs, how grants or expansions to Social Security crowded out expenditure on welfare at the state and local level, and which other parties may have gained from these savings.
In May of 2016, Matt earned his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics from the Department of Economics at Colorado College, he earned his Masters in Economics from Vanderbilt in May of 2018, passed his dissertation proposal defense in March of 2020, and expects to receive his PhD in May of 2022.
Matthew Pesner is a 6th-year Ph.D. candidate in the department of economics at Vanderbilt University, and will be on the Job Market Fall, 2021 and available for interviews at the ASSA 2022 Virtual Annual Meeting. His research interests lie in the intersection of Public, Labor, and Economic History. Click here to see his job market paper and here for his CV.
Matthew's research revolves around understanding the development of public pensions and the safety net in the United States over the 20th century. His job market paper focusses on estimating how federalizing railroad retirement pensions in the mid-1930s affected retirement decisions, and what we can learn from this about pension incentives and labor supply more broadly. Other research focuses on significant changes to Social Security and Public Assistance programs in the 1950s and 1960s. In particular, these papers investigate how the state and federal governments interacted to finance these programs, how grants or expansions to Social Security crowded out expenditure on welfare at the state and local level, and which other parties may have gained from these savings.
In May of 2016, Matt earned his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematical Economics from the Department of Economics at Colorado College, he earned his Masters in Economics from Vanderbilt in May of 2018, passed his dissertation proposal defense in March of 2020, and expects to receive his PhD in May of 2022.