Benjamin F. Jones
Gordon and Llura Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship
Professor of Strategy
Co-Director, Ryan Institute on Complexity
Benjamin F. Jones is the Gordon and Llura Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and a Professor of Strategy. An economist by training, Professor Jones studies the sources of economic growth in advanced economies, with an emphasis on innovation, entrepreneurship, and scientific progress. He also studies global economic development, including the roles of education, climate, and national leadership in explaining the wealth and poverty of nations. His research has appeared in journals such as Science, the Quarterly Journal of Economics and the American Economic Review, and has been profiled in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and The New Yorker.
A former Rhodes Scholar, Professor Jones served in 2010-2011 as the senior economist for macroeconomics for the White House Council of Economic Advisers and earlier served in the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Professor Jones is a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he co-directs the Innovation Policy Working Group, a senior fellow of the Institute for Progress, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
- Economic growth; development economics; technology
- science
- innovation
- and entrepreneurship.
- Business strategy in emerging markets (MBA).Innovation and entrepreneurship (PhD).
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PhD, 2003, Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MPhil, 1997, Economics, Oxford University
BSE, 1995, Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Summa Cum Laude -
Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategy, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2014-present
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, 2019-present
Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2012-present
Associate Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2007-2014
Faculty Affiliate, Center for International and Comparative Studies, Northwestern University, 2005-present
Faculty Affiliate, Center for International Economics and Development, Northwestern University, 2005-present
Faculty Research Fellow, National Bureau of Economic Research, 2005-2010
Assistant Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2003-2007
Lecturer, Kazakhstan Institute for Management and Economic Progress, 1996 -
Senior Economist for Macroeconomics, White House, 2010-2011
Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1997-1998 -
Finalist for L. G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award
Sidney J. Levy Award for Excellence in Teaching
AER: Insights Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economics Association
AER: Insights Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economics Association
Finalist, L.G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award, 2020-2021
Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award
Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award
Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economic Review
Stanley Reiter Best Paper Award, Kellogg School of Management, 2011
Excellence in Refereeing Award, American Economic Review, 2009 -
Associate Editor, Journal of Development Economics, 2010-Present
Research in Economics (MECS-560-3)
This course introduces first-year PhD students to the economics research environment. With an emphasis on breadth, and minimal prerequisite knowledge at the graduate level, students are exposed to the process of forming and answering research questions. The course involves multiple faculty providing their perspective on successful approaches to research by highlighting significant recent works in their respective fields of interest.
Technology and Innovation ll (MECS-549-2)
This course establishes fundamental ways in which ideas differ from other goods, then uses these concepts to evaluate the origins of innovation, economic growth, firm dynamics, entrepreneurship, innovation clusters, and the diffusion of new technology. The course substantially reviews core empirical literature, including methods and data sets that are suited to studying ideas and innovation.
Innovation Economics and the Science of Science (MECS-548-0)
Innovation touches many fields, including virtually all fields of economics -- whether economic growth, industrial organization, labor economics, health, finance, trade, or urban economics. As such, the course provides important foundations for PhD students in economics across many sub-disciplines, as well as students studying innovation strategy, organizational behavior, creativity, entrepreneurship, and science policy from different disciplinary perspectives. In tandem with theoretical approaches, this course substantially reviews core empirical literature, including empirical methods and an expanding set of remarkable data sets that are suited to studying ideas and innovation. This PhD course also provides an inroad to the growing field of the “science of science,†which emphasizes the use of high-scale data, network methods, and machine learning, together with more traditional econometric approaches, to understand the science and innovation process and implications for society.â€
Field Study (STRT-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Strategic Challenges in Emerging Markets (STRT-466-0)
Globalization presents central opportunities and challenges for business growth. Whether a firm seeks new markets for its products, lower-cost production opportunities, or high-yield investment vehicles, many of the most attractive opportunities internationally lie in "emerging markets" in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and elsewhere. At the same time, these business environments present special risks and challenges. Achieving competitive advantage in emerging markets depends on the firm's ability to manage the risks posed by weak legal systems, which limit the enforceability of contracts and property rights while amplifying the challenges of corruption, as well as managing through the macroeconomic, trade policy, and political regime shocks that regularly visit emerging market environments. This course provides toolkits and frameworks to successfully confront these challenges. The course will integrate numerous business examples with insights from the latest economics, business strategy, and political science research to provide the international business manager with a cutting-edge, integrated perspective on globalization and a set of strategic solutions to manage the most prevalent business risks in emerging markets.
