About

Murray’s primary research interest is in poverty, both in the U.S. and abroad. He has written extensively on in-kind transfer programs in the United States and on industrial location policies in less developed economies. He has also published articles on economic theory and on econometrics. Currently he is studying the effect of the mass incarceration of African-American men on the earnings of low-skill members of other groups.

Before coming to Bates, Murray had appointments at the RAND Corporation and the World Bank. Earlier, he had academic appointments at UCSD, Duke, the University of Virginia and Claremont Graduate University. He has also held visiting professorships at UC Berkeley, Harvard university, and LUISS Guido Carli University.

Murray has taught urban economics, public economics, development economics, behavioral economics, microeconomic theory, and econometrics.

Education
Ph.D. in Economics, Iowa State University
M.S. in Economics, Iowa State University
B.A. in Social Science, Santa Clara University

Fields of Interest
Urban, Public, Development, Labor, Behavioral, and Econometrics

Selected Publications

“The Demand for Space in China,” with Guoqing Sun, Journal of Urban Economics, March 2017, 214-222.

“Avoiding Invalid Instruments and Coping with Weak Instruments,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 20, 4, Fall 2006, 111-132.

“When is the Standard Analysis of Common Property Extraction under Free Access Correct?–
A Game-Theoretic Justification for Non Game-Theoretic Analyses.” (with others), Journal of
Political Economy, August, 1999, 843-858.

“The Distribution of Direct Tenant Benefits from Public Housing,” The Economics of Housing, John Quigley, ed., Edward Elgar Publishers, 1997. (Reprinted from Econometrica, July 1975, 771-788.)

“Subsidized and Unsubsidized Housing Starts, 1961-1977,” Review of Economics and Statistics, LXV, 4, November 1983, 590-597.