Alexandre Mas, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, has been named co-director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The appointment is effective September 2017.

Mas’s research focuses on the effect of unions and workplace unrest on productivity, unemployment measurements and the economic effects of unemployment insurance programs. He is director of the Industrial Relations Section at Princeton and also has served as chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor.

The Labor Studies Program at NBER examines issues surrounding employment and compensation, including the effects of labor unions and the role of fringe benefits as part of a worker’s compensation.

Mas will join co-director David Autor in replacing David Card, Ford Professor of Economics at MIT, the previous director of the Labor Studies Program LS program, who will step down from the position this summer. They will both work alongside NBER President James Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT, to launch new initiatives and expand on previous projects at the Labor Studies Program.

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policymakers and business professionals.