Research interests: labor economics, education, health, economic history

Bhash Mazumder is currently a senior economist and economic advisor in the economic research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He’ll be joining UCI in January 2025 as a professor of economics.

Mazumder specializes in several areas of research: intergenerational economic mobility, the historical causes of racial gaps in socioeconomic outcomes such as education and income, the effects of early life health on later life outcomes, and the financial importance of having access to health insurance. Recently, he’s been exploring the historical legacy of redlining and how maps created by a 1930s federal housing agency influenced the evolution of cities over the last century. His research has shown that redlining led to reduced access to credit and financial disinvestment in many communities. This, in turn, had significant consequences for American society, namely increased racial segregation, deteriorating housing markets, and diminished opportunities for success among children growing up in these neighborhoods.

His work has been published in leading academic journals including the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Quantitative Economics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics and the Review of Economics and Statistics. His research has also been featured in the Chicago Fed Letter and Economic Perspectives.

Mazumder earned his Ph.D. in economics at UC Berkeley. He’s looking forward to joining the UCI Department of Economics and the opportunity to shift to an academic setting. He’s excited to collaborate with interdisciplinary scholars working on topics in education, sociology and environmental policy. He’s passionate about UCI’s mission to serve first-generation college students and is eager to be a part of a worldclass university that provides opportunity for upward intergenerational mobility. As an outdoor rock-climbing enthusiast, Mazumder is also looking forward to the mild year-round Southern California climate.