Eric Hanushek

Expertise

Applied Public Finance and Public Policy Analysis
Economics of Education
Education Policy
Education Reform

Research teams

Research interests

LEARN MORE

Download Headshot

See Hanushek's personal website
View Short Bios

Eric Hanushek
Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow in Education

Short Bio

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a leading authority on the economics of education. His pioneering research on teacher quality, school accountability, and the economic returns to educational achievement has shaped policy worldwide. Author of over 300 articles and 26 books, he received the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Research. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and earned his Ph.D. at MIT.

Copy Bio

Mid-Length Bio

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and an internationally recognized authority on the economics of education. His research has profoundly influenced education policy in both developed and developing countries. In 2021, he received the Yidan Prize for Education Research, the world’s most prestigous award in the field.

Hanushek’s scholarship—more than 300 widely cited articles and 26 books—spans topics such as class size reduction, school accountability, teacher effectiveness, and the economic returns to education. He pioneered the measurement of teacher quality through student achievement growth, a framework that underpins today’s value-added approaches to evaluating teachers and schools. His books include The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth, which links national economic growth to the skills of the population; Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain, which estimates the global economic benefits of achieving foundational skills; and Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses, which examines how school finance policy can support improved outcomes. His earlier works—ranging from Endangering Prosperity to the multi-volume Handbook of the Economics of Education—have set the standard for rigorous analysis of education systems worldwide.

He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, area coordinator for Economics of Education at CESifo, and a research fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. His public service includes roles as a commissioner on the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission, chair of the National Board for Education Sciences (2008–2010), Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office (1983–1985), and member of the National Assessment Governing Board (2019–2023).

Hanushek previously taught at the University of Rochester, Yale University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the International Academy of Education, and a fellow of both the Society of Labor Economists and the American Educational Research Association. In 2004, he received the Thomas B. Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship.

A Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Hanushek served in the Air Force from 1965 to 1974 and earned his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Copy Bio

To view, the complete bio visit https://www.hoover.org/profiles/eric-hanushek.

About

Eric Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University and one of the world’s leading scholars in the economics of education. His influential research has shaped education policy globally, with widely cited studies on teacher effectiveness, school accountability, class size, and the economic returns to educational quality. In 2021, he received the Yidan Prize for Education Research, the field’s most prestigious international award.

He has authored or edited 26 books and more than 300 articles, and he serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of both the Society of Labor Economists and the American Educational Research Association. His public service includes roles as a commissioner on the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission, chair of the National Board for Education Sciences (2008–2010), Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office (1983–1985), and member of the National Assessment Governing Board (2019–2023). A member of the National Academy of Education and the International Academy of Education, he earned his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating as a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Eric A. Hanushek on Education and the Yidan Prize

A recognized leader in the economic analysis of education issues, Professor Eric Hanushek and his research have had broad influence on education policies in both developed and developing countries. Listen to him discuss education's future as a recipient of the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Research.