James Levinsohn is the Charles W. Goodyear Professor in Global Affairs and Professor of Economics and Management. He is the first director of the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.
Levinsohn’s fields of expertise are in international economics, industrial organization, economic development and applied econometrics. Recently, his academic research has focused on the impact of HIV/AIDS on unemployment and school attendance in South Africa. He has published widely on trade policy, foreign investment practices and the global corporation.
Levinsohn’s international activities form a major component of his work. He has lived and worked in Senegal, Botswana and South Africa. One of his projects, now in its 11th year, trains government officials, university faculty and students, and NGO staff from over a dozen countries in southern Africa on how to use data to inform policymaking. He has also worked with Sudanese refugees in their attempt to be compensated for their forcible removal from their homelands.
A former professor and associate dean at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Levinsohn has held visiting appointments at the University of Cape Town, Tel Aviv University, the Institute for International Economic Studies in Stockholm, and Stanford’s Hoover Institution.
He has served on the editorial boards of numerous economics publications, including the American Economic Review and the Review of Economics and Statistics. Both his research and teaching have been recognized with major grants and awards.