About

Ran Abramitzky is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Economics and the Senior Associate Dean of the Social Sciences at Stanford University. His research focuses on economic history and applied microeconomics, with particular emphasis on immigration and income inequality. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. Abramitzky has authored notable works including the book 'The Mystery of the Kibbutz: Egalitarian Principles in a Capitalist World,' which was awarded the Gyorgi Ranki Biennial Prize by the Economic History Association, and 'Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success,' co-authored with Leah Boustan, which received recognition from The New Yorker, Forbes, and Behavioral Scientist. He holds a PhD in economics from Northwestern University and has received multiple awards for his teaching and research contributions.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Law
• Linguistics
• Computer Science
• Machine Learning
• Artificial Intelligence
• History
• Economics
• Data Mining
• Demographic economics
• Demography
• Geography
• Gender studies
• Labour economics
• Mathematics
• Political economy
• Psychology
• Econometrics
• Genealogy

Selected publications

• Replication Package for Finding John Smith: Using Extra Information for Historical Record Linkage

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-04-14

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We introduce a new rule-based linking method for historical Census records. We augment earlier algorithms based on name, age and place of birth (Abramitzky, Boustan, Eriksson, 2012, or “basic ABE”), with five matching characteristics – middle initial, county of residence, and spouse and parents’ names. Relative to basic ABE, ABE-Extra Information (“ABE-EI”) greatly increases match rates, improves accuracy and is similarly representative of the population on most attributes, with geographic mobility being one important exception. Relative to machine learning algorithms, ABE-EI has somewhat lower match rates, greater representativeness, and offers full replicability. We also create the first ABE-based links for women.

  PublisherDOI

• Replication Package for Finding John Smith: Using Extra Information for Historical Record Linkage

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-04-14

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We introduce a new rule-based linking method for historical Census records. We augment earlier algorithms based on name, age and place of birth (Abramitzky, Boustan, Eriksson, 2012, or “basic ABE”), with five matching characteristics – middle initial, county of residence, and spouse and parents’ names. Relative to basic ABE, ABE-Extra Information (“ABE-EI”) greatly increases match rates, improves accuracy and is similarly representative of the population on most attributes, with geographic mobility being one important exception. Relative to machine learning algorithms, ABE-EI has somewhat lower match rates, greater representativeness, and offers full replicability. We also create the first ABE-based links for women.

  PublisherDOI

• Where Are the Streets of Gold, and Why? A New Approach to Cross-Country Analysis and an Application to Immigrant Assimilation

  AEA Papers and Proceedings · 2026-05-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Many big questions in social sciences concern cross-country differences, yet credible answers are difficult to establish. This lecture proposes a framework that uses cross-country analysis to narrow plausible mechanisms, followed by targeted causal studies. We apply this approach to immigrant assimilation, documenting strong upward mobility for children of immigrants in the Anglosphere, but weaker outcomes for sons in continental Europe. Gender and class patterns that vary across countries rule out explanations based on immigrant selection or destination countries’ immigration history, pointing instead to the potential role of differences in educational and vocational institutions between the Anglosphere and the Continent.

  PublisherDOI

• Expression at the edge: Free speech boundaries amidst the Gaza crisis

  Science Advances · 2026-04-15

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Universities have become key arenas in national debates over the boundaries of free expression. Using preregistered online survey experiments with a nationally representative sample of 3065 US college students, this study examines how individuals navigate the tension between free speech and harm prevention, an issue sharpened by recent campus protests over Gaza. We test how variation in the severity of speech and the identity of its target (white, Black, Jewish, Muslim, or transgender individuals) shapes judgments about appropriate institutional responses. Our preregistered analyses show that students generally oppose punishing objectionable speech unless it is perceived as highly harmful and that identical statements directed at minority groups elicit stronger punitive responses than those targeting white individuals. Exploratory analyses reveal that these patterns reflect distinct normative principles: Most students adopt a particularist stance, favoring greater protection for marginalized groups, while a sizable minority adhere to a universalist view emphasizing equal treatment regardless of identity. These principles predict attitudes across contexts, but adherence weakens when individuals hold strong views on the issue at hand. Our findings show that campus conflicts over speech boundaries reflect not only disagreement about norms but also unequal application of these norms across groups and issues.

  PublisherDOI

• How War Affects Research Output: Scientist Emigration and Academic Brain Drain from Russia After the 2022 Invasion of Ukraine

  Stanford Digital Repository · 2026-05-19

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This thesis documents the wave of academic emigration from Russia that followed the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and examines whether it explains the sharp post-war decline in Russian research output. Using bibliometric data from OpenAlex, I track scientists’ locations through their institutional affiliations. Emigrants were positively selected on research quality and most strongly on prior international integration: researchers with any pre-war non-Russian affiliation were 7.7 percentage points more likely to leave. Using a within-field difference-in-differences design across 2,120 institution–field departments in 891 Russian institutions, I find no detectable effect of emigration exposure on total publication counts, implying that emigration alone cannot account for Russia’s aggregate output decline. However, emigration significantly slowed growth in top-journal publications, where each additional star emigrant is associated with a 1.45 percentage point lower annual growth rate. Decomposing the effect on stayers reveals two opposing margins: stayers in departments that lost more average colleagues are less likely to stop publishing, while those in departments that lost more star colleagues are more likely to do so. Taken together, the results suggest that the 2022 emigration wave did not drive Russia’s aggregate output decline but led to a quality loss and reorganization within affected departments.

  PublisherDOI

• Data and Code for: Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the US-born, 1870–2020

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-17

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We provide the first nationally representative long-run series (1870<b>–</b>2020) of incarceration rates for immigrants and the US-born. As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the US-born for 150 years. Moreover, relative to the US-born, immigrants’ incarceration rates have declined since 1960: immigrants today are 60% less likely to be incarcerated (30% relative to US-born whites). This relative decline occurred among immigrants from all regions and cannot be explained by changes in immigrants’ observable characteristics or immigration policy. Instead, the decline is part of a broader divergence of outcomes between less-educated immigrants and their US-born counterparts.

  PublisherDOI

• Data and Code for: Law-Abiding Immigrants: The Incarceration Gap Between Immigrants and the US-born, 1870–2020

  ICPSR Data Holdings · 2026-01-17

  datasetOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We provide the first nationally representative long-run series (1870<b>–</b>2020) of incarceration rates for immigrants and the US-born. As a group, immigrants have had lower incarceration rates than the US-born for 150 years. Moreover, relative to the US-born, immigrants’ incarceration rates have declined since 1960: immigrants today are 60% less likely to be incarcerated (30% relative to US-born whites). This relative decline occurred among immigrants from all regions and cannot be explained by changes in immigrants’ observable characteristics or immigration policy. Instead, the decline is part of a broader divergence of outcomes between less-educated immigrants and their US-born counterparts.

  PublisherDOI

• Finding John Smith: Using Extra Information for Historical Record Linkage

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2025-07-01 · 3 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  We introduce a new rule-based linking method for historical Census records.We augment earlier algorithms based on name, age and place of birth (Abramitzky, Boustan, Eriksson, 2012, or "basic ABE"), with five matching characteristics -middle initial, county of residence, and spouse and parents' names.Relative to basic ABE, ABE-Extra Information ("ABE-EI") greatly increases match rates, improves accuracy and is similarly representative of the population on most attributes, with geographic mobility being one important exception.Relative to machine learning algorithms, ABE-EI has somewhat lower match rates, improved representativeness, and offers full replicability.We also create the first ABE-based links for women.

  PublisherDOI

• Intergenerational Mobility over Two Centuries

  National Bureau of Economic Research · 2025-01-01 · 3 citations

  reportOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This paper provides an overview of recent empirical and methodological advances in the study of historical intergenerational mobility trends, with a focus on key measurement challenges.These advances are made possible by the recent digitization of historical censuses and new methods of historical record-linking, which have enabled researchers to create large historical samples of parent-child links.We identify three main findings.First, absolute mobility increased in the decades leading up to 1940 but has since declined, both in the US and other industrial countries.Second, recent studies on relative mobility question the classic narrative that the US has transitioned from a "land of opportunity" in the 19th century to a less mobile society today, suggesting that mobility was not as high in the past.However, estimates of relative mobility are sensitive to choices regarding sample selection and measurement.Third, we explore mechanisms underlying shifts in intergenerational mobility over time, including geographic mobility, wealth shocks, educational attainment, locational effects, and the transmission of parent-specific human capital.We conclude by suggesting avenues for future research.

  PublisherDOI

• Climbing the Ivory Tower: How Socio-Economic Background Shapes Academia

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Economic Outcomes and Self-Selection in the Age of Mass Migration: A Micro Approach

  NSF · $236k · 2010–2013

• The Selection and Incentive Effects of Equal-Sharing

  NSF · $219k · 2007–2010

Frequent coauthors

• Leah Platt Boustan

  Princeton University

  115 shared

• Kimmo Eriksson

  Mälardalen University

  62 shared

• Santiago Pérez

  51 shared

• Myera Rashid

  27 shared

• Rob Voigt

  Northwestern University

  21 shared

• Dylan S. Connor

  Arizona State University

  21 shared

• Peter Catron

  University of Washington

  19 shared

• Victor Lavy

  17 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Economics

  Stanford University

  2002

• B.A., Economics

  University of California, Berkeley

  1997

Awards & honors

• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship
• Gyorgi Ranki Biennial Prize for an outstanding book on Europ…