Kevin Murphy is the George J. Stigler Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the Booth School and the Law School. He has been a member of the Chicago faculty since 1983. Born in 1958, he received a BA in economics from the University of California at Los Angeles, where he was Phi Beta Kappa, in 1981. He received a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1986, writing his thesis on specialization and human capital.

He is the recipient of the 1997 John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, which is given once every two years to the most outstanding American economist under the age of 40. Murphy was cited for his study of the causes of growing income inequality in the United States between white-collar and blue-collar workers. His findings link the growth in income inequality to growth in the demand for skilled labor.

Professor Murphy is the recipient of numerous other awards and fellowships, including a Sloan Foundation Fellowship and an Earhart Foundation Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, and the author of more than 50 published articles. His most recent research has focused on returns to education and skill, unemployment, human capital and growth, and income inequality. Articles about Murphy's research have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and many local papers.

Professor Murphy's research has covered a wide range of topics including economic growth, income inequality, valuing medical research, rational addiction, and unemployment. Professor Murphy teaches microeconomics in both the MBA and PhD programs.