David Autor, the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, has been named head of the Department of Economics, effective July 1. The appointment places a scholar known for studying work, technology, globalization, inequality, and political outcomes in a leadership role at one of MIT’s central academic departments.
A labor economist moves into department leadership
Autor succeeds Jon Gruber, the Ford Professor of Economics, who has served as department head since July 2023. The transition gives the department a leader whose academic work is closely tied to some of the most visible economic questions facing universities, workers, and policymakers.
Agustín Rayo, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, described Autor in both scholarly and personal terms. “David is a world-class labor economist,” Rayo says. “He is also an individual of wisdom and insight. I look forward to welcoming him to the school’s leadership team.”
For Autor, the role is also a return of service to an institution that has defined much of his professional life. “I’ve been at MIT since 1999, and I owe my career to the Institute, the department, and colleagues who are as kind as they are accomplished,” Autor says. “Stepping into this role is a chance to contribute to a place that has shaped me at every stage.”
Why Autor’s research fits the moment
Autor’s scholarship examines how technological change and globalization affect labor markets. His work explores job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes. Those subjects give his appointment significance beyond a routine leadership change, because they connect directly to questions about how economies adapt when work itself changes.
The source article identifies Autor as faculty co-director of the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work. That role aligns with the themes running through his broader scholarship: how economic opportunity is distributed, how technology reshapes jobs, and how institutions can understand changes in work before they become settled facts.
He also serves as co-director of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Labor Studies Program. That position further places him within the research networks focused on labor economics, jobs, earnings, and the conditions that shape workers’ prospects.
AI, teaching, and the department’s next agenda
Autor’s own comments point to a leadership agenda that looks both inward and outward. He says he “aims to build on the stellar standard set by its faculty and students while navigating budget tightening and a shifting political landscape.” That framing keeps the department’s existing academic strengths at the center while acknowledging constraints around resources and public context.
He also identifies artificial intelligence as a major area of opportunity. “Just as important, I want to lead the department toward the opportunities that advancing AI is opening in how we teach and what we research,” he adds.
That statement matters because it places AI not only inside the research agenda, but also inside the teaching mission. In Autor’s framing, advancing AI affects what economists study and how students learn. The source does not outline specific programs or policies, but the direction is clear: MIT Economics will be thinking about AI as both an object of economic inquiry and a tool that can change academic work.
For a department rooted in economics, that dual focus is especially relevant. AI can be studied through labor markets, inequality, skill demands, and technological change, all areas already present in Autor’s scholarship. At the same time, AI can raise practical questions about instruction, research methods, and the future shape of academic training.
A record across scholarship and teaching
Autor earned a BA in psychology from Tufts University in 1989 and a PhD in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 1999. His career since then has included recognition for both research and teaching.
His scholarship has been recognized with the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Sherwin Rosen Prize for outstanding contributions to the field of Labor Economics, the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship in 2019, and the Society for Progress Medal in 2021.
His teaching awards include the MIT MacVicar Faculty Fellowship, the James A. and Ruth Levitan Award for excellence in teaching, the Undergraduate Economic Association Teaching Award, and the Faculty Appreciation Award from the MIT Technology and Policy Program.
Other recent honors reinforce the breadth of that recognition. In 2020, Autor received the Heinz 25th Special Recognition Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his work “transforming our understanding of how globalization and technological change are impacting jobs and earning prospects for American workers.”
In 2023, Autor was one of two researchers across all scientific fields who was named a NOMIS Distinguished Scientist. In 2024, he was one of five senior scholars selected by the Schmidt Sciences Foundation as an AI2050 Senior Fellow.
What the appointment signals
Autor’s appointment brings together several strands of MIT Economics: labor economics, inequality, technology, teaching, and institutional leadership. The department is getting a head whose research has long focused on the economic consequences of change, especially when technology and globalization reshape jobs and earnings.
The immediate facts are straightforward: Autor becomes head effective July 1, following Jon Gruber’s service since July 2023. The larger signal is that MIT Economics will be led by a scholar whose work sits close to debates about work, AI, inequality, and the future of economic research.
For readers watching the intersection of artificial intelligence and the labor market, this is not just an internal university appointment. It is a leadership shift at a department whose next chapter will be shaped by the same forces Autor has spent his career studying.