Derek Neal is the William C. Norby Professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics
and the Committee on Education at the University of Chicago. Much of Professor Nealʼs
recent research focuses on the design of incentive and accountability systems for
educators. In 2018, he published Information, Incentives, and Education Policy (Harvard
University Press). This book employs standard tools from information economics to
examine a range of education reform agendas, from assessment-based accountability and
centralized school assignments to charter schools and voucher systems. Professor Neal
demonstrates where these programs have been successful, where they have failed, and
why.

Earlier in his career, his research focused on the causes and consequences of measured
skill gaps between blacks and whites in the United States. His current work explores how
different aspects of criminal justice policy impact black-white inequality in the US.

He is a past President of the Midwest Economics Association, a Fellow of the Society of
Labor Economists, and a former Editor of the Journal of Human Resources, the Journal of
Labor Economics and the Journal of Political Economy.