Robert Margo

Robert A. Margo is Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, at Boston University; and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1982. From 1981 to 1986 he taught at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1987 he moved to Colgate University where he held the Banfi Vintners’ Distinguished Professorship in American Economic History. From 1989 to 2005 he taught at Vanderbilt University.

Margo has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and at Bard College, and a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation in New York City. A specialist in the history of the American economy with particular emphasis on the economic history of African-Americans, Margo is the author or co-author of 5 books and over 150 articles, book chapters and book reviews. He has served on the editorial boards of many journals, including the Journal of Economic History, the American Economic Review, and the Quarterly Journal of Economics; and he has served as editor or co-editor of the Southern Economic Journal and of Explorations in Economic History.  He was elected a Fellow of the Cliometric Society in 2012.

Additionally, Margo is an accomplished performer on classical guitar, mandolin, renaissance and baroque lutes. In the Boston area, he performs regularly with the Providence (Rhode Island) Mandolin Orchestra and the New American Mandolin Ensemble.