Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at University of Chicago — Frontier Research, Global Impact. | Becker Friedman Institute

BFI Working Paper·Feb 18, 2026
Trading Goods for Lives: NAFTA’s Mortality Impacts and Implications
We estimate the mortality impact of local labor market exposure to the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as well as to other local area shocks, and provide a parsimonious empirical explanation for differently-signed mortality estimates across different sources...
BFI Working Paper·Feb 17, 2026
Dynamic Complementarity
Dynamic complementarity is the concept that past investments that lead to higher stocks of skill at one age promote the growth of skills from investment at that age. We define and provide evidence on dynamic complementarity using unique Chinese data...
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About the Becker Friedman Institute
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire University of Chicago economics community, uniting researchers from the Booth School of Business, the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics, the...
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Inspired by our namesakes, Nobel Laureates Gary Becker and Milton Friedman, who believed that economics research could help improve the world, BFI works with the Chicago Economics community to turn its evidence-based research into real-world impact.
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