New Faculty: Ezra Oberfield

Ezra Oberfield 

Professor, Economics

Academic focus: 

Firm dynamics, economic growth, trade

Current research project: 

I'm working on a series of papers about how large firms such as Starbucks with many establishments choose to organize themselves over space. Which types of locations are covered in a firm's geographic footprint? Do the largest and most productive firms tend to favor more dense and richer locations relative to less productive firms? Or are they more willing to serve the more marginal locations? How many establishments does each firm place in a location and how close together are these establishments? How do these decisions depend on the characteristics of the location and of the firm? I am interested in understanding how these decisions made by many firms jointly determine which customers have access to which firms' goods, and how spatial competition among firms plays out. I am also interested in how recent changes in technology, which have spurred some large firms to greatly expand their footprints, affected local competition both in cities and in rural areas.

Previous positions:

• Professor, Economics Department, Princeton, 2023-2024 
• Associate Professor, Economics Department, Princeton, 2020-2023 
• Assistant Professor, Economics Department, Princeton, 2013-2020
• Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, 2010-2013

Academic background:

• Ph.D., Economics, Chicago, 2010
• B.A., Economics and math, Yale, 2003

Last book read: 

“G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century” by Beverly Gage

In your own time/when not working: 

Frisbee, piano

Courses you’re most looking forward to teaching: 

Firm dynamics and aggregate productivity

What most excites you about Cornell: 

Great colleagues, great atmosphere