Portrait image for Jerry Nickelsburg

Jerry Nickelsburg

Faculty Director, UCLA Anderson Forecast; Adjunct Professor of Economics
“We develop a high-quality toolkit for analyzing business and looking at the world.”
(310) 206-1132
About
 
 

Biography

Jerry Nickelsburg joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA Anderson Forecast in 2006. Since 2017, he has served as faculty director of the Forecast. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota, specializing in monetary economics and econometrics.

Nickelsburg plays a key role in the economic modeling and forecasting of the national, California and regional economic forecasts. He researches labor economics, industrial organization, statistics and international monetary economics, focusing on the development of new data and the application of economic theory and statistical methods to sector-specific policy issues. His current research encompasses transportation and environmental economics, and the relationships between highly skilled persons and their demand for social insurance. He has conducted special studies into the future of manufacturing in Los Angeles, the economic impact of the writers’ strike, the undocumented construction and manufacturing labor force, and the garment industry.

Formerly a professor of economics at the University of Southern California, Nickelsburg held executive positions with McDonnell Douglas, FlightSafety International and FlightSafety Boeing during a 15-year span in the aviation business. He developed forecasting tools for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and has advised banks, investors and financial institutions. From 2000 to 2006, he was the managing principal of Deep Blue Economics, a consulting firm he founded.

Nickelsburg teaches economics in UCLA Anderson’s MBA program, with a focus on business forecasting and international business economics. He travels regularly with students to Asia as professor and advisor in their global immersion courses.

Nickelsburg is cited by the national media, with frequent mentions in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Reuters. He has published more than 100 scholarly and popular articles on economic policy, monetary economics, statistics, labor economics and industrial organization, and he is the author of two books on monetary economics and exchange rates.

 

Education

Ph.D. Economics, 1980, University of Minnesota

M.A. Economics, 1974, University of Colorado

B.A., 1971, George Washington University

Virginia Military Institute, 1966–1969

 

Selected Publications

“High-Speed Rail, Urbanization and Housing Affordability Revisited: Evidence from the Shinkansen System,” Journal of Transportation Economics and Policy, 2020 (with S. Ahluwalia and Y. Yang).

“Labor Market Dynamics and Local Labor Markets: Lessons from U.S. Military Base Closures,” Journal of Defence and Peace Economics, 2019

“Public Transit Bus Procurement: The Role of Energy Prices, Regulation and Federal Subsidies,” Journal of Urban Economics, Vol. 87:57-71, 2015 (with S. Li and M. E. Kahn).

“Do People with Specific Skills Want More Redistribution? Not in the United States,” Economics and Politics, Vol. 26:3:457-582, 2014 (with J. Timmons).

“On the (Ir)relevance of Skill Specificity for Social Insurance,” Quarterly Journal of Political Science, 7:1:35-67, 2012 (with J. Timmons).

“Organizational and Individual Learning and Forgetting,” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 65 (1):68-81, 2012 (with M. Kleiner and A. Pilarski).

 

Working Papers

“Who Paid Los Angeles’ Minimum Wage?” 2020 (with E. Leamer and C. Esposito).

“An Economic Analysis of U.S Airline Fuel Economy Dynamics from 1991 to 2015,” 2016 (with Matthew E. Kahn).

 

Recognition

Korda Fellowship
USC Outstanding Teacher
India Chamber of Commerce Jubilee Lecturer
Fulbright Scholar