Boris Gershman Associate Professor Economics
- Degrees
- PhD, Brown University
MA, Brown University
MA, New Economic School
BSc, Moscow State University - Bio
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Boris Gershman has been on the faculty of American University since 2012. Born and raised in Moscow, he came to the United States in 2007 and earned his PhD degree in Economics from Brown University in 2012. His primary research focuses on the deep determinants of long-term economic growth and development and the economics of culture. Professor Gershman’s recent work has been published in the European Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Macroeconomic Dynamics, and PLoS ONE.
Visit Boris Gershman's personal website
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Teaching
Spring 2024
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ECON-401 Inter Macroecon with Calculus
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ECON-812 Macroeconomic Analysis II
Fall 2024
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ECON-401 Inter Macroecon with Calculus
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ECON-677 GIS Appls in Empirical Econ
Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities
Research Interests
Economic Growth and Development, Economics of Culture and Institutions
Selected Publications
Headhunting and Warfare in Austronesia: A Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis (with Tinatin Mumladze). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, April 2024, 220, 768-791.
Witchcraft Beliefs Around the World: An Exploratory Analysis. PLoS ONE, November 2022, 17 (11), e0276872.
Witchcraft Beliefs as a Cultural Legacy of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Evidence from Two Continents. European Economic Review, February 2020, 122, 103362.
Subnational Diversity in Sub-Saharan Africa: Insights from a New Dataset (with Diego Rivera). Journal of Development Economics, July 2018, 133, pp. 231-263.
Banks, Market Organization and Macroeconomic Performance: An Agent-Based Computational Analysis (with Quamrul Ashraf and Peter Howitt). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, March 2017, 135, pp. 143-180.
Witchcraft Beliefs and the Erosion of Social Capital: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa and Beyond. Journal of Development Economics, May 2016, 120, pp. 182-208.
How Inflation Affects Macroeconomic Performance: An Agent-Based Computational Investigation (with Quamrul Ashraf and Peter Howitt). Macroeconomic Dynamics, March 2016, 20 (2), pp. 558-581.
The Economic Origins of the Evil Eye Belief. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, February 2015, 110, pp. 119-144.
The Two Sides of Envy. Journal of Economic Growth, December 2014, 19(4), pp. 407-438.