Principles of Economics

Born and raised in Colorado, Bruce Watson studied undergraduate economics at the University of Denver. After eight years as a financial futures analyst and trader, he did graduate work in economics at the University of Colorado and at Harvard. He taught at Harvard College for many years and was a resident tutor in Harvard's Lowell House. He is a Lecturer in Extension at the Harvard Extension School and is a Master Lecturer at Boston University. The recipient of numerous teaching awards at Harvard College and Boston University, in 2011 Watson received Harvard Extension School's JoAnne Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award.

David Laibson is the Robert I. Goldman Professor of Economics and an incoming Faculty Dean of Lowell House. He leads Harvard University's Foundations of Human Behavior Initiative. Laibson's research focuses on the topic of behavioral economics, with emphasis on household finance, macroeconomics, aging, and intertemporal choice. Laibson is also a member of the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he directs the National Institute of Aging Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health and Savings, and is a Research Associate in the Aging, Asset Pricing, and Economic Fluctuations Working Groups. Laibson serves on the Board of the Russell Sage Foundation and on Harvard's Pension Investment Committee. Laibson serves on the advisory board of the Social Science Genetics Association Consortium. Laibson has served as the Chair of the Department of Economics at Harvard University and as member of the Academic Research Council of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Laibson is a recipient of a Marshall Scholarship. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a two-time recipient of the TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security. Laibson holds degrees from Harvard University (AB Economics, summa cum laude), the London School of Economic (MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD in Economics). He received his PhD in 1994 and has taught at Harvard since then. In recognition of his teaching, he has been awarded Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa Prize and a Harvard College Professorship.

John A. List is and the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago, Founder and Co-Director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, and the first Chief Economist at Walmart. Recognized as a pioneer for his innovative use of field experiments to examine issues in micro- and macro-economics, List has published over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and several books, including best-sellers The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life (with Uri Gneezy) and The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale. List was named a Top 50 Innovator in the Non-Profit Times for 2015 and 2016 for his work on charitable giving. He served in the White House on the Council of Economic Advisers from 2002-2003 and is presently a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor, and a university fellow at Resources for the Future. List received his BS in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and PhD in economics at the University of Wyoming. List joined the University of Chicago faculty in 2005 and served as Chairman of the Department of Economics from 2012-2018, and is the former Chief Economist of Uber and Lyft.