Economics Professor Stefanie Stantcheva Awarded the 2025 Clark Medal

The American Economic Association awarded the 2025 John Bates Clark Medal to Stefanie Stantcheva, a professor of political economy at Harvard.

The medal, named after the American economist and former Columbia professor, is awarded annually to economists under the age of forty who have made substantial contributions to the field of economics.

Stantcheva received the award for her work in analyzing the effects of taxation on private behavior and the decisions of innovators, her application of mechanism design, and her studies of how people think about redistribution and tax policy. Her work “provides important insights that inform policy debates on the practical design of tax systems,” according to the AEA website.

Past awardees of the John Bates Clark Medal include Economics professors Raj Chetty ’00 and Melissa Dell ’05.

Stantcheva wrote in an email statement that she was “incredibly grateful” to the Harvard Economics department for their support.

“I am deeply honored and humbled by this recognition and very grateful to my wonderful colleagues, co-authors, mentors, and students who have been so supportive, generous and inspirational,” she wrote. “I have learned so much from all of them.”

Economics department chair Elie Tamer said he was “not surprised at all” that Stantcheva received the award in the press release.

“She has done stellar work and we’re very proud,” Tamer said. “It’s a happy day for Harvard and Harvard economics in particular.”

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra said Stantcheva’s “important contributions to the field make her so deserving of this award” in the press release.

“It’s wonderful to celebrate her alongside her colleagues, including several past winners, which speaks to the continued strength of this department,” Hoesktra said.

Stantcheva joined Harvard’s faculty as an assistant professor of Economics in 2016, previously serving as a Junior Fellow for Harvard’s Society of Fellows. She became a full professor for the department in 2018, before being formally announced as the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy in 2021.

Stantcheva founded the Social Economics Lab in 2018 to study how people understand taxation and economic policy. Her recent project has involved using large-scale surveys and experiments to explore people’s attitudes toward taxation, trade, immigration, and social mobility.

Stantcheva wrote that while poorly designed tax systems can “limit growth, innovation and economic activity,” a well-designed system can result in productive outcomes, like raising revenues and reducing inequality.

"Taxes are such a powerful tool for governments,” she wrote. “This is why it is such an important topic to study.”

In addition to being a member of the American Economic Association, Stantcheva is also a member of the National Bureau of Economics Research, a nonprofit organization that aims to collect and distribute quality economic research in different fields.

—Staff writer Neeraja S. Kumar can be reached at neeraja.kumar@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @neerajasrikumar.

—Staff writer Rauf Nawaz can be reached at rauf.nawaz@thecrimson.com.