Erzo F.P. Luttmer

Associate Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
Office Address
Taubman-380
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 114
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-496-0118
Fax: 617-496-1722
Email: Erzo_Luttmer@ksg.harvard.edu
Assistant
Abdul Tariq (617-495-2593)
Erzo F.P. Luttmer

Profile

Erzo F.P. Luttmer, Associate Professor of Public Policy, teaches public economics and microeconomics. His research interests include public economics, labor economics, and applied econometrics. Within these fields, his research focuses on income redistribution programs and the role of social effects on economic outcomes. In recent research, he has conducted a randomized experiment to examine the effect of the race and income of Katrina victims on Americans generosity towards them, explored the efficiency gains of giving people a choice of tax schedules, and investigated whether individuals respond to the link between their current payment of Social Security taxes and their expected future Social Security benefits. From 1999 to 2000, he worked as an economist at the World Bank. Luttmer received a masters degree in econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and a PhD in economics from Harvard University.

 

Courses

Fall

  • API-101-A Markets and Market Failure
  • API-129 Social Problems and Government Responses

Media Expertise

Erzo F.P. Luttmer welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects:

Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.

Research

For a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journals
    • Luttmer, Erzo F.P. “Group Loyalty and the Taste for Redistribution.” Journal of Political Economy 109.3 (June 2001): 500-528.
    • Glaeser, Edward L., and Erzo F.P. Luttmer. "The Misallocation of Housing Under Rent Control." American Economic Review 93.4 (September 2003): 1027-1046.
    • Luttmer, Erzo F.P. "Neighbors as Negatives: Relative Earnings and Well-Being." Quarterly Journal of Economics 120.3 (August 2005): 963-1002.
    • Dehejia, Rajeev, Thomas DeLeire, and Erzo F.P. Luttmer. "Insuring Consumption and Happiness Through Religious Organizations." Journal of Public Economics 91.1-2 (February 2007): 259-279.
    • Shue, Kelly, and Erzo F.P. Luttmer. "Who Misvotes? The Effect of Differential Cognition Costs on Election Outcomes." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 1.1 (February 2009): 229-257.
    • Fong, Christina M., and Erzo F.P. Luttmer. "What Determines Giving to Hurricane Katrina Victims? Experimental Evidence on Racial Group Loyalty." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 1.2 (April 2009): 64-87.
    • Finkelstein, Amy, Erzo F.P. Luttmer, and Matthew J. Notowidigdo. "Approaches to Estimating the Health State Dependence of the Utility Function." American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 99.2 (May 2009): 116-121.
  • HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series
    • Luttmer, Erzo F.P., and Monica Singhal. "Culture, Context, and the Taste for Redistribution." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series and NBER Working Papers (RWP08-038 and 14268), August 2008.
    • Liebman, Jeffrey, Erzo F.P. Luttmer, and David G. Seif. "Labor Supply Responses to Marginal Social Security Benefits: Evidence from Discontinuities." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series :RWP09-003, January 2009.
    • Fong, Christina M., and Erzo F.P. Luttmer. "Do Race and Fairness Matter in Generosity? Evidence from a Nationally Representative Charity Experiment." HKS Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP09-014, June 2009.