John M. Fitzgerald

Professor of Economics

Spring 2012

  • Advanced Public Economics (ECON 310)
Phone 725-3593
Title William D Shipman Professor of Economics
Department Economics
Work Location 112 Hubbard Hall
E-Mail jfitzger@bowdoin.edu


John M. Fitzgerald received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1983 and has been on the faculty of Bowdoin College since that time. In 2006 he was named to the William D. Shipman Chair in Economics.  He has also been an Honorary Fellow (visitor) at the University of Wisconsin, an associate of the Institute for Research on Poverty, and an American Statistical Association/Census Fellow at the U.S. Bureau of the Census in Washington D.C., and a New Zealand Treasury Visiting Research Fellow.John M. Fitzgerald

His current research focuses on attrition issues in models of intergenerational links in health and income, particularly sibling models.  Research interests include the effects of government welfare and anti-poverty programs on family well-being, labor supply and family structure in the US and in New Zealand (where he spent a recent sabbatical), and the economics of marriage and its relation to labor supply. Other interests include study of earnings instability, the measurement of poverty, and the valuation of household production (housework).

He enjoys teaching courses in public economics (government taxing and spending), poverty and redistribtuion programs, intermediate microeconomics, economic statistics and econometrics, as well as principles of economics.

Fitzgerald currently serves as a faculty fellow for the McKeen Center for the Common Good.  He also serves on the board of Tedford Housing, a non-profit providing services to help prevent homelessness and serve the homeless in the midcoast area.  Native to Montana, he enjoys fly fishing, rock climbing and other outdoor activities.

Curriculum Vitae

Working Papers and Published Papers

Recent Course Syllabi