Darrick Hamilton

Darrick Hamilton is the University Professor and Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy at The New School, where he also founded and directs the Institute on Race, Power & Political Economy. He additionally serves as Chief Economist at the AFL-CIO. 

Widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost public intellectuals, Professor Hamilton reimagines how an economy should work—identifying bold opportunities to invest in our human capacity and fostering collaborations that advance economic inclusion, social equity, and civic engagement in the United States and around the world.

A pioneer in the economics subfield of identity group stratification, Professor Hamilton’s research has been featured in The New York Times, Mother Jones, Bloomberg Businessweek, and The Wall Street Journal. He has developed and advised on transformative policy proposals—such as baby bonds, guaranteed income, and a federal job guarantee—that have inspired legislation and shifted billions of dollars toward building a fair and inclusive economy.

In 2025, Professor Hamilton was named the Katherine Hampson Bessell Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and was recognized as a Freedom Scholar by the Marguerite Casey Foundation in its 2020 inaugural class. He has advised national and global leaders on economic policy, including the U.S. Joint Economic Committee and the Senate Banking Committee and also serves on the board of directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Born and raised in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Professor Hamilton earned his bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.