Linda Datcher Loury (January 19, 1952 – September 22, 2011) was an American economist who was a professor of

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 ...

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. Her work on family and neighborhood economics put her among the founders of

social economics Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

Biography

Loury was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, in 1952. She attended the

Friends School of Baltimore Friends School of Baltimore is a private Quaker school in Baltimore, serving students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. One of the prestigious Roland Park 5 Preparatory Schools, Friends has been described by author Judy Colbert as "a challen ...

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

(where she majored in economics, with a concentration in Black Studies), and earned a PhD from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1978. She held research and teaching positions at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and the

Harvard Kennedy School The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

before joining the faculty of Tufts University in 1984, where she worked for the remainder of her life. She married her graduate school classmate

Glenn Loury Glenn Cartman Loury (born September 3, 1948) is an American economist, academic, and author. He is the Merton P. Stoltz Professor of the Social Sciences and Professor of Economics at Brown University, where he has taught since 2005. At the age of ...

in 1983, and together they raised two sons. While raising her children, she founded a network of African-American families in the Boston area, volunteered in her children's school, and was an active member of her church's efforts to assist disadvantaged children.

Research

Loury conducted particularly influential research on the importance of social interactions and information networks in job markets. For example, she studied the impact of grandparents' educational achievements on their grandchildren, the relationship between job tenure and hiring networks, and the impact of mothers' labor market participation on children's academic achievements.

Selected works

* (with

Phyllis Ann Wallace Phyllis A. Wallace (1921–1993) was a distinguished African American economist and activist, as well as the first woman to receive doctorate of economics at Yale University. Her work tended to focus on racial, as well as gender discrimination in ...

and

Julianne Malveaux Julianne Marie Malveaux (born September 22, 1953) is an American economist, author, social and political commentator, and businesswoman. After five years as the 15th president of Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, she resigned on May ...

) ''Black women in the labor force''. MIT Press (MA), 1980. * "Effects of mother's home time on children's schooling." ''The Review of Economics and Statistics'' (1988): 367-373. * (with David Garman) "College selectivity and earnings." ''Journal of Labor Economics'' 13, no. 2 (1995): 289-308. * "The gender earnings gap among college-educated workers." ''ILR Review'' 50, no. 4 (1997): 580-593. * (with Yannis M. Ioannides) "Job information networks, neighborhood effects, and inequality." ''Journal of Economic Literature'' 42, no. 4 (2004): 1056-1093. * "Some contacts are more equal than others: Informal networks, job tenure, and wages." ''Journal of Labor Economics'' 24, no. 2 (2006): 299-318.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loury, Linda Datcher American women economists 21st-century American economists Labor economists Education economists Tufts University faculty Swarthmore College alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni African-American economists 1952 births 2011 deaths African-American educators 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women 20th-century American economists People from Baltimore Economists from Maryland