Catherine Pakaluk
Assistant Professor of Economics at The Busch School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America
Catherine Ruth Pakaluk (PhD, 2010) is Assistant Professor of Economics at The Busch School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America. Formerly, she was Assistant Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Ave Maria University. Her primary areas of research include Economics of Education and Religion, Family Studies and Demography, Catholic Social Thought and Political Economy. Dr. Pakaluk is the 2015 recipient of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award, a prize given for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”
Dr. Pakaluk did her doctoral work at Harvard University under Caroline Hoxby, David Cutler, and 2016 Nobel-laureate Oliver Hart. Her dissertation, “Essays in Applied Microeconomics”, examined the relationship between religious ‘fit’ and educational outcomes, the role of parental effort in observed peer effects and school quality, and certain theoretical aspects of the contraceptive revolution as regards twentieth century demographic trends.
Beyond her formal training in economics, Dr. Pakaluk studied Catholic social thought under the mentorship of F. Russell Hittinger, and various aspects of Thomistic thought with Steven A. Long. She is a widely-admired writer and sought-after speaker on matters of culture, gender, social science, the vocation of women, and the work of Edith Stein. She lives in Maryland with her husband Michael and eight children.
Talk Topics
—Economics of Education
—Edith Stein: On Woman
—Social Science of the Family
—Catholic Social Thought (various topics)
—Solidarity in Catholic thought
—Liberty in Catholic thought
—New Battle of the Sexes (video link here)