John Kennan

Professor of Economics
6438 Sewell Social Sciences
(608) 262-5393
jkennan@ssc.wisc.edu

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Curriculum Vitae

Research Interest Statement
Kennan’s research centers on the economic analysis of dynamic environments in which information is incomplete. This broad area includes many topics relevant to population research. For example, decisions regarding marriage and divorce involve bargaining between individuals who are uncertain about their partners’ preferences and opportunities. Conflicts due to private information can break up a partnership that would otherwise survive. Kennan has worked extensively on the analysis of such conflict. In recent work, he has analyzed the extent to which private information generates volatility in the rate at which employers create new jobs. Standard empirical models fail to explain why unemployment is so sensitive to small changes in economic fundamentals. Kennan has shown that this pattern can be explained quantitatively as an outcome of private information.

Kennan has moved more directly into population research in work with Walker on migration. They have developed a model that views individual decisions to migrate as expected lifetime utility maximizing responses to income differentials. The model is dynamic, and is estimated with data from the youth cohorts of the National Longitudinal Surveys. A dynamic model better explains differences in migration behavior across demographic groups. Kennan and Walker have shown that a model covering many locations and many periods is econometrically feasible and is flexible enough to include major background factors affecting migration.

CDE Research Theme Working Groups
Demography of Inequality