AEJ Best Paper Awards
Annually, an article is selected from each American Economic Journal from nominated articles for the AEJ Best Paper Award. Nominations are accepted from December 1 to February 15, and winners are announced in April. The 2026 award recipients are listed below:
2026
Do Carbon Offsets Offset Carbon?
Raphael Calel, Jonathan Colmer, Antoine Dechezleprêtre, and Matthieu Glachant
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 17, No. 1, January 2025
Employed in a SNAP? The Impact of Work Requirements on Program Participation and Labor Supply
Colin Gray, Adam Leive, Elena Prager, Kelsey Pukelis, and Mary Zaki
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 15, No. 1, February 2023
Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy with Distorting Taxes
Christopher A. Sims†
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Volume 17, No. 2, April 2025
The Fake News Effect: Experimentally Identifying Motivated Reasoning Using Trust in News
Michael Thaler
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Volume 16, No. 2, May 2024
† Awarded posthumously
2025
| Natalia Emanuel (L) and Emma Harrington (R) receiving AEJ:Applied Economics Best Paper Awards | ||
| Thomas Dreschel receiving AEJ:Macroeconomics Best Paper Award | ||
| Zach Brown (L) and Alexander MacKay (R) receiving AEJ:Microeconomics Best Paper Awards | ||
Working Remotely? Selection, Treatment, and the Market for Remote Work
Natalia Emanuel and Emma Harrington
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Vol. 16, No. 4, October 2024
Adaptation and Adverse Selection in Markets for Natural Disaster Insurance
Katherine R. H. Wagner
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Vol. 14, No. 3, August 2022
Earnings-Based Borrowing Constraints and Macroeconomic Fluctuations
Thomas Drechsel
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Vol. 15, No. 2, April 2023
Competition in Pricing Algorithms
Zach Y. Brown and Alexander MacKay
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Vol. 15, No. 2, May 2023
2024
| Manasi Deshpande (L) and Yalun Su (R) receiving AEJ:Applied Economics Best Paper Awards (not pictured: Tal Gross) | ||
| Giovanni Ricco receiving AEJ:Macroeconomics Best Paper Award (not pictured: Silvia Miranda-Agrippino) | |
Simon Board (L) and Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn (R) receiving AEJ:Microeconomics Best Paper Awards |
Disability and Distress: The Effect of Disability Programs on Financial Outcomes
Manasi Deshpande, Tal Gross, and Yalun Su
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 13, No. 2, April 2021
The Labor Market for Teachers under Different Pay Schemes
Barbara Biasi
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 13, No. 3, August 2021
The Transmission of Monetary Policy Shocks
Silvia Miranda-Agrippino and Giovanni Ricco
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Volume 13, No. 3, July 2021
A Reputational Theory of Firm Dynamics
Simon Board and Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Volume 14, No. 2, May 2022
2023
| Enghin Atalay (L) and Daniel Tannenbaum (center) receiving AEJ:Applied Economics Best Paper Awards (not pictured: Phai Phongthiengtham and Sebastian Sotelo) | Oyebola Okunogbe receiving AEJ:Economic Policy Best Paper Award (not pictured: Victor Pouliquen) | |
| Christopher Conlon (center) and Michael Sinkinson (R) receiving AEJ:Microeconomics Best Paper Awards (not pictured: Matthew Backus) | |
Morten Olsen receiving AEJ:Macroeconomics Best Paper Award (not pictured: David Hémous) |
The Evolution of Work in the United States
Enghin Atalay, Phai Phongthiengtham, Sebastian Sotelo, and Daniel Tannenbaum
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 12, No. 2, April 2020
Technology, Taxation, and Corruption: Evidence from the Introduction of Electronic Tax Filing
Oyebola Okunogbe and Victor Pouliquen
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 14, No. 1, February 2022
The Rise of the Machines: Automation, Horizontal Innovation, and Income Inequality
David Hémous and Morten Olsen
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Volume 14, No. 1, January 2022
Common Ownership in America: 1980 – 2017
Matthew Backus, Christopher Conlon, and Michael Sinkinson.
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Volume 13, No. 3, August 2021
2022
Understanding the Average Impact of Microcredit Expansions: A Bayesian Hierarchical Analysis of Seven Randomized Experiments
Rachael Meager
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 11, No. 1, January 2019
Carbon Taxes and CO2 Emissions: Sweden as a Case Study
Julius J. Andersson
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 11, No. 4, November 2019
Higher Taxes at the Top: The Role of Entrepreneurs
Bettina Brüggemann
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Volume 13, No. 3, July 2021
Is No News (Perceived As) Bad News? An Experimental Investigation of Information Disclosure
Ginger Zhe Jin
Michael Luca
Daniel Martin
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Volume 13, No. 2, May 2021
2021
Social Media and Corruption
Ruben Enikolopov
Maria Petrova
Konstantin Sonin
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Volume 10, No. 1, January 2018
How Antitrust Enforcement Can Spur Innovation: Bell Labs and the 1956 Consent Decree
Martin Watzinger
Thomas A. Fackler
Markus Nagler
Monika Schnitzer
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Volume 12, No. 4, November 2020
Deconstructing Monetary Policy Surprises – The Role of Information Shocks
Marek JarociĆski
Peter Karadi
American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Volume 12, No. 2, April 2020
Who Benefits from Information Disclosure? The Case of Retail Gasoline
Fernando Luco
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, Volume 11, No. 2, May 2019
2020
Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark
Henrik Klevin
Camille Landais
Jakob Egholt Søgaard
AEJ: Applied Economics, 11 (4)
Who is Screened Out? Application Costs and the Targeting of Disability Programs
Manasi Deshpande
Yue Li
AEJ: Economic Policy, 11 (4)
A Model of Secular Stagnation: Theory and Quantitative Evaluation
Gauti Eggertsson
Neil R. Mehrotra
Jacob Robbins
AEJ: Macroeconomics, 11 (1)
Discrimination via Symmetric Auctions
Rahul Deb
Mallesh Pai
AEJ: Microeconomics, 9 (1)
2019
Expertise versus Bias in Evaluation: Evidence from the NIH
Danielle Li
AEJ: Applied Economics, 9 (2)
Adaptation to Climate Change: Evidence from US Agriculture
Marshall Burke and Kyle Emerick
AEJ: Economic Policy, 8 (3)
The Firm Size Distribution across Countries and Skill-Biased Change in Entrepreneurial Technology
Markus Poschke
AEJ: Macroeconomics, 10 (3)
A Pseudo-Market Approach to Allocation with Priorities
Yinghua He, Antonio Miralles, Marek Pycia, and Jianye Yan
AEJ: Microeconomics, 10 (3)
(L to R) Janet Yellen and 2019 recipients Danielle Li, Kyle Emerick (co-author Marshall Burke not present), Markus Poschke, Yinghua He and Jianye Yan (co-authors Antonio Miralles and Marek Pycia not present)
2018
The Persistent Effect of Temporary Affirmative Action
Conrad Miller
AEJ: Applied Economics, 9 (3)
Income, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Infant Health
Hilary Hoynes, Doug Miller and David Simon
AEJ: Economic Policy, 7 (1)
Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy
L. Rachel Ngai and Barbara Petrongolo
AEJ: Macroeconomics, 9 (4)
Collective Self-Control
Alessandro Lizzeri and Leeat Yariv
AEJ: Microeconomics, 9 (3)
Barbara Petrongolo (L) and L. Rachel Ngai (center) receiving AEJ:Macro Best Paper Awards |
David Simon and Hilary Hoynes receiving AEJ:Policy Best Paper Awards (not pictured: Doug Miller) |
Conrad Miller receiving AEJ:Applied Best Paper Award |
Alessandro Lizzeri receiving AEJ:Micro Best Paper Award (not pictured: Leeat Yariv) |
2017
- Market-Based Lobbying: Evidence from Advertising Spending in Italy
- Stefano DellaVigna, Ruben Durante, Brian Knight, and Eliana La Ferrara
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 8 (1)
- Of Mice and Academics: Examining the Effect of Openness on Innovation
- Fiona Murray, Philippe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Julian Kolev, and Scott Stern
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 8 (1)
- Understanding the Great Recession
- Lawrence J. Christiano, Martin S. Eichenbaum, and Mathias Trabandt
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 7 (1)
- Investing in Skill and Searching for Coworkers: Endogenous Participation in a Matching Market
- Chris Bidner, Guillaume Roger and Jessica Moses
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 8 (1)
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Ruben Durante and Stefano DellaVigna, recipients of the 2017 AEJ: Applied Economics Best Paper Award (not pictured: Brian Knight and Eliana La Ferrara)
Philippe Aghion and Julian Kolev, recipients of the 2017 AEJ: Economic Policy Best Paper Award (not pictured: Fiona Murray, Mathias Dewatripont, and Scott Stern)
Martin S. Eichenbaum and Lawrence J. Christiano, recipients of the 2017 AEJ: Macroeconomics Best Paper Award (not pictured: Mathias Trabandt)
2016
- Legal Status and the Criminal Activity of Immigrants
- Giovanni Mastrobuoni, Paolo Pinotti
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 7 (2)
- Death by Market Power: Reform, Competition, and Patient Outcomes in the National Health Service
- Martin Gaynor, Rodrigo Moreno-Serra, and Carol Propper
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 5 (4)
- Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs, and Economic Activity
- Mark Gertler, Peter Karadi
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 7 (1)
- Nonlinear Pricing of Storable Goods
- Igal Hendel, Alessandro Lizzeri, and Nikita Roketskiy
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 6 (3)
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Martin Gaynor, recipient of the 2016 AEJ: Economic Policy Best Paper Award (not pictured: Rodrigo Moreno-Serra and Carol Propper)
Giovanni Mastrobuoni and Paolo Pinotti, recipients of the 2016 AEJ: Applied Economics Best Paper Award
2015
- Real Wage Inequality
- Enrico Moretti
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 5 (1)
- Measuring the Output Responses to Fiscal Policy
- Alan J. Auerbach and Yuriy Gorodnichenko
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 4 (2)
- Credit Risk and Disaster Risk
- François Gourio
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 5 (3)
- Observational Learning and Demand for Search Goods
- Kenneth Hendricks, Alan Sorensen and Thomas Wiseman
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 4 (1)
Enrico Moretti, recipient of the 2015 AEJ: Applied Economics Best Paper Award |
François Gourio, recipient of the 2015 AEJ: Macroeconomics Best Paper Award |
Kenneth Hendricks, recipient of the 2015 AEJ: Microeconomics Best Paper Award (Alan Sorensen and Thomas Wiseman, not pictured) |
Alan J. Auerbach and Yuriy Gorodnichenko, recipients of the 2015 AEJ: Economic Policy Best Paper Award |
2014
- Do Teenagers Respond to HIV Risk Information? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Kenya
- Pascaline Dupas
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 3 (1)
- Corruption Dynamics: The Golden Goose Effect
- Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 5 (4)
- Marginal Jobs, Heterogeneous Firms, and Unemployment Flows
- Michael W. L. Elsby and Ryan Michaels
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 5 (1)
- Set-Asides and Subsidies in Auctions
- Susan Athey, Dominic Coey, and Jonathan Levin
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 5 (1)
2013
- The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession
- Philip Oreopoulos, Till von Wachter, Andrew Heisz
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 4 (1)
- Does State Fiscal Relief During Recessions Increase Employment? Evidence from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
- Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Laura Feiveson, Zachary Liscow, William Gui Woolston
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 4 (3)
- How Much Does Immigration Boost Innovation?
- Jennifer Hunt and Marjolaine Gauthier-Loiselle
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 2 (2)
- Information Disclosure and Unraveling in Matching Markets
- Michael Ostrovsky and Michael Schwarz
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 2 (2)
2012
- Factor Immobility and Regional Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence on Poverty from India
- Petia Topalova
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 2 (4)
- Is the Taxable Income Elasticity Sufficient to Calculate Deadweight Loss? The Implications of Evasion and Avoidance
- Raj Chetty
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 1 (2)
- Simple Analytics of the Government Expenditure Multiplier
- Michael Woodford
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 3 (1)
- Strategy Entry Deterrence and the Behavior of Pharmaceutical Incumbents Prior to Patent Expiration
- Glenn Ellison and Sara Fisher Ellison
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 3 (1)
2011
- Malaria Eradication in the Americas: A Retrospective Analysis of Childhood Exposure
- Hoyt Bleakley
- AEJ: Applied Economics, 2 (2)
- Do Taxpayers Bunch at Kink Points?
- Emmanuel Saez
- AEJ: Economic Policy, 2 (3)
- A Century of Work and Leisure
- Valerie Ramey and Neville Francis
- AEJ: Macroeconomics, 1 (2)
- Dynamic Revenue Maximization with Heterogeneous Objects: A Mechanism Design Approach
- Alex Gershkov and Benny Moldovanu
- AEJ: Microeconomics, 1 (2)