Antonio Merlo is an Italian-born American economist and academic. He currently serves as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Early life

Antonio Merlo was born in Italy in 1963. A first-generation college graduate, he received a

Laurea In Italy, the ''laurea'' is the main post-secondary academic degree. The name originally referred literally to the laurel wreath, since ancient times a sign of honor and now worn by Italian students right after their official graduation ceremony ...

''summa cum laude'' in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

and

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

from

Bocconi University Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and computer sci ...

in Milan in 1987. Merlo emigrated to the United States in 1988 and earned a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in economics from

in 1992.

Career

Merlo began his academic career in 1992 as an assistant professor of economics at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1998. Between 1998 and 2000 he held a joint appointment in the Department of Economics and the Department of Politics at New York University. In 2000, he joined the faculty at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, where he held the

Lawrence Klein Lawrence Robert Klein (September 14, 1920 – October 20, 2013) was an American economist. For his work in creating computer models to forecast economic trends in the field of econometrics in the Department of Economics at the University of Penn ...

Chair of Economics and the Directorship of the Penn Institute for Economic Research (PIER) until 2014. He was also the chair of the economics department from 2009 to 2012. In 2014, Merlo joined

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

as the George A. Peterkin Professor of Economics, the chair of the economics department, and the Founding Director of the Rice Initiative for the Study of Economics (RISE). From 2016 to 2019, he served as dean of the

Rice University School of Social Sciences Rice School of Social Sciences is an academic school on the Rice University campus. It serves the largest number of undergraduates, with over a third of Rice undergraduates choosing a major in the social sciences.

. In 2019, Merlo returned to his alma mater as the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of NYU's Faculty of Arts and Science and Professor of Economics. In 2012, Merlo was elected a Fellow of the

Econometric Society The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...

. In 2014, he delivered the

Vilfredo Pareto Vilfredo Federico Damaso Pareto ( , , , ; born Wilfried Fritz Pareto; 15 July 1848 – 19 August 1923) was an Italian polymath (civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher). He made several important contribut ...

Lecture at the

Collegio Carlo Alberto The Collegio Carlo Alberto is a private research and teaching institution, located in the city of Turin, northern Italy, in the province of Turin. The institution was created in 2004 as a joint initiative of the Compagnia di San Paolo and the Un ...

. Merlo's areas of expertise are

political economy Political economy is the study of how Macroeconomics, economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and Economy, national economies) and Politics, political systems (e.g. law, Institution, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied ph ...

policy analysis Policy analysis is a technique used in the public administration sub-field of political science to enable civil servants, nonprofit organizations, and others to examine and evaluate the available options to implement the goals of laws and elected ...

public economics Public economics ''(or economics of the public sector)'' is the study of government policy through the lens of economic efficiency and equity. Public economics builds on the theory of welfare economics and is ultimately used as a tool to improve ...

bargaining In the social sciences, bargaining or haggling is a type of negotiation in which the buyer and seller of a good or service debate the price or nature of a transaction. If the bargaining produces agreement on terms, the transaction takes plac ...

theory and applications, and empirical

microeconomics Microeconomics is a branch of mainstream economics that studies the behavior of individuals and firms in making decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources and the interactions among these individuals and firms. Microeconomics fo ...

. His research interests include the economics of crime, voting, the career decisions of politicians, the formation and dissolution of coalition governments, the industrial organization of the political sector, household bargaining and the study of the residential housing market. He has published numerous articles in the leading journals in the profession, including the ''

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious and highly distinguished journals in the field of ec ...

'', ''

Econometrica ''Econometrica'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics, publishing articles in many areas of economics, especially econometrics. It is published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Econometric Society. The current editor-in-chief is Gui ...

'', the ''

Journal of Political Economy The ''Journal of Political Economy'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press. Established by James Laurence Laughlin in 1892, it covers both theoretical and empirical economics. In the past, the ...

'', and the ''

Review of Economic Studies ''The Review of Economic Studies'' (also known as ''REStud'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering economics. It was established in 1933 by a group of economists based in Britain and the United States. The original editorial team ...

''.

Books

* The Ruling Class Management and Politics in Modern Italy (with

Tito Boeri Tito Michele Boeri (born 3 August 1958) is an Italian economist, currently professor of economics at Bocconi University, Milan and acts as Scientific Director of the Fondazione Rodolfo Debenedetti.

and

Andrea Prat Andrea Prat (born 1967) is an Italian economist. He is the Richard Paul Richman Professor of Business and Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He first studied economics at the University of Turin and then obtained his PhD in 1997 at S ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2010) * Political Economy and Policy Analysis (

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

, 2019)

Other leadership positions

From 2008 to 2014, Merlo was the Head Coach of the men's

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

team of the University of Pennsylvania. He led the

Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. School colors There are se ...

to three championship titles in the Mid-Atlantic Division of the

Collegiate Water Polo Association The Collegiate Water Polo Association is a conference of colleges and universities in the Eastern United States that sponsor 19 men's teams and 17 women's teams that compete in varsity water polo. The winners of the conference tournaments earn one ...

(CWPA) in 2008, 2010, and 2013, the 2013 Ivy League Collegiate Club Championship, and a fifth-place finish at the National Collegiate Club Championship in 2013. From 2016 to 2019, Merlo was the Head Coach of the men's and women's water polo teams at Rice University. In 2013, 2017, and 2018, he won Coach of the Year in the CWPA men's Mid-Atlantic Division, women's Texas Division, and men's Texas Division, respectively.

Personal life

Antonio Merlo is married to Dr. Gia Merlo, a board certified physician in adult psychiatry, child & adolescent psychiatry, and lifestyle medicine. They have two children, Monisha Lewis and Martina Merlo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merlo, Antonio Fellows of the Econometric Society 1963 births People from Legnano Rice University faculty Bocconi University alumni New York University alumni University of Minnesota faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty Penn Quakers coaches Italian emigrants to the United States College men's water polo coaches in the United States American university and college faculty deans Political economists 21st-century American economists American people of Italian descent Public economists Microeconomists Living people