Richard Hornbeck

Richard Hornbeck is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Rick is an applied micro-economist whose research focuses on the historical development of the American economy, related often to three themes: the importance of property rights and contracting failures; market integration and agglomeration spillovers; and connections between agriculture, technology, and the environment. Rick views history as providing broader perspective on what is both universal and unusual about the modern economy: by examining the economy across historically diverse contexts, we can learn from the resulting creative economic solutions or failures. His research has been published widely, including articles in the American Economic Review, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, and the Journal of Political Economy.

Prior to joining Chicago Booth in 2015, Rick was a faculty member at Harvard University. He received an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2014 and was selected for the 2009 Review of Economic Studies Tour. He received a PhD in economics from MIT in 2009 and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago in 2004.

Published and Forthcoming Papers

• Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, and Richard Hornbeck. 2018. “How Much do Existing Borrowers Value Microfinance? Evidence from an Experiment on Bundling Microcredit and Insurance”. Economica, 85(340): 671-700. Replication files.
• Hornbeck, Richard, and Daniel Keniston. 2017. “Creative Destruction: Barriers to Urban Growth and the Great Boston Fire of 1872”. American Economic Review 107(6): 1365-1398. Replication files.
• Chaney, Eric, and Richard Hornbeck. 2016. “Economic Dynamics in the Malthusian Era: Evidence from the 1609 Spanish Expulsion of the Moriscos”. Economic Journal 126(594): 1404-1440. Replication Files.
• Donaldson, Dave, and Richard Hornbeck. 2016. “Railroads and American Economic Growth: A “Market Access” Approach”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 131(2): 799-858. Railroad Network Data, 1830-1920. Replication Files. Appendix.
• Hornbeck, Richard, and Pinar Keskin. 2015. “Does Agriculture Generate Local Economic Spillovers? Short-run and Long-run Evidence from the Ogallala Aquifer”. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 7(2) 192-213. Replication Files.
• Banerjee, Abhijit, Esther Duflo, and Richard Hornbeck. 2014. “Bundling Health Insurance and Microfinance in India: There Cannot be Adverse Selection if There is No Demand”. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 104(5): 291-297. Replication Files.
• Hornbeck, Richard, and Suresh Naidu. 2014. “When the Levee Breaks: Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South”. American Economic Review 104(3): 963-990. Replication Files.
• Hornbeck, Richard, and Pinar Keskin. 2014. “The Historically Evolving Impact of the Ogallala Aquifer: Agricultural Adaptation to Groundwater and Drought”. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 6(1): 190-219. Replication Files.
• Hornbeck, Richard. 2012. “The Enduring Impact of the American Dust Bowl: Short- and Long-run Adjustments to Environmental Catastrophe”. American Economic Review 102(4): 1477-1507. Replication Files.
• Hornbeck, Richard. 2012. “Nature versus Nurture: The Environment’s Persistent Influence through the Modernization of American Agriculture”. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings 102(3): 245-249. Replication Files.
• Zwane, Alix, et al. 2011. “Being surveyed can change later behavior and related parameter estimates”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108(5): 1821-1826.
• Greenstone, Michael, Richard Hornbeck, and Moretti, Enrico. 2010. “Identifying Agglomeration Spillovers: Evidence from Winners and Losers of Large Plant Openings”. Journal of Political Economy 118(3): 536-598. Non-Confidential Files.
• Hornbeck, Richard. 2010. “Barbed Wire: Property Rights and Agricultural Development”. Quarterly Journal of Economics 125(2): 767-810. Replication Files and Border Fixes.