Dr. Naci Mocan is the Ourso Distinguished Chair of Economics at Louisiana State University.  He is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Research Fellow of the IZA.  Prior to joining the Economics Department of the Louisiana State University in 2007, Dr. Mocan was a Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Research on Economic and Social Policy at University of Colorado at Denver. He also served as the Chair of Department of Economics at University of Colorado at Denver.

Dr. Mocan’s research focuses on the production of health,  the determinants of criminal activity and issues in law and economics, among other topics.  His current research investigates the interplay between culture, institutions, emotions, and economic behavior. He is ranked by RePEc in the top 4% of all Economists who ever published a research article.

Dr. Mocan’s research has been published in various academic journals including the American Economic Review, The Review of Economics and Statistics, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, The Economic Journal, Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Labor Economics, and others.

Dr. Mocan’s research has been featured in such media outlets as the Economist, the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, and NPR. He gave a TEDx talk in 2017 on the impact of economic conditions on racism and xenophobia.

Dr. Mocan has served as a consultant for public and private institutions, including the U.S. Department of Justice, RAND Corporation, New York City Independent Budget Office, The Governor’s Office of the State of Colorado, and the Ministry of Employment and Workforce Development of Canada. He also served as a member of the Louisiana Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Dr. Mocan graduated from Istanbul Erkek Lisesi high school. He received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Bogazici University and received his Economics PhD from the Graduate School of the City University of New York, supervised by Michael Grossman.