Mark Joseph Stelzner


Mark Joseph Stelzner

Associate Professor of Economics

Joined Connecticut College: 2015

Education
B.A., Boston University
M.A., University of Denver, Josef Korbel School of International Studies
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts


Specializations

Inequality and the political underpinnings of the economic system

Most of Mark Stelzner’s research is focused on better understanding income inequality in the United States. He has conducted research on the evolution of labor laws during the Gilded Age and over the last forty years, the relationship between labor laws and inequality, the income shares of top earners in the late 1860s, the connection between support for workers and technological change, the evolution of antitrust administration since the 1960s, the link between inequality and politics, the connection between monopsony power and wage discrimination between like workers of different race, ethnicities, and gender groups, the degree to which Americans have overpaid for private medical care, the importance of slavery to the antebellum US economy, and the sources of productivity gains of enslaved workers during the same period. His work has been featured in the Economic Report of the President, the Economist, the Nation, the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, the Center for American Progress, History, and other venues.

For the last few years, Mark Stelzner has begun to explore the connection between consumption, growth, and happiness. He has published a paper on the connection between conspicuous consumption, economic growth and happiness – modeling the disconnect between happiness and income after a certain level of development is reached. And he is currently in the process of publishing a book on overconsumption and capitalism.

Recent academic publications:

Recent popular articles and policy papers:

Majoring in Economics.

Visit the Economics department website.

Contact Mark Joseph Stelzner

Mailing Address

Mark Joseph Stelzner
Connecticut College
Box # ECONOMICS/Winthrop Hall
270 Mohegan Ave.
New London, CT 06320

Office

Winthrop Hall 307