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Senior advisor to the social sciences program, Academic Ventures at the Radcliffe Institute and Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management at Harvard Kennedy School

Brigitte Madrian is senior advisor to the social sciences program at the Radcliffe Institute and the Aetna Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management at Harvard Kennedy School. Before coming to Harvard in 2006, she was on the faculties at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (2003–2006), the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1995–2003), and the Harvard University Department of Economics (1993–1995). She is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and coeditor of the Journal of Human Resources.

Madrian’s current research focuses on household saving and investment behavior. Her work in this area has impacted the design of employer-sponsored savings plans in the United States and influenced pension reform legislation both in the United States and abroad.

Madrian earned her PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and studied economics as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University. She is the recipient of the John Heinz Dissertation Award from the National Academy of Social Insurance and the TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award, which recognizes outstanding scholarly writing on issues related to lifelong financial security.