Bruce Hamilton Professor of Economics Office: Mergenthaler Hall 460 Phone: (410) 516-7613 Fax: (410) 516-7600 E-mail: Office hours: Tuesday 1:00-3:30 PM; Wednesday 1:00-3:30 PM Special Office hours: Tue(9/2): 9-11 AM; 1-3:30 PM; Wed(9/3): 8-10 AM; 1:00-3:30 PM; Thu(9/4) 8-11 AM; Wed(9/10): 8-10 AM; 1:00-3:30 PM. Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

Bruce Hamilton came to Johns Hopkins as an Assistant Professor in 1973, one year after obtaining his Ph.D. from Princeton University. Since that time he has spent his entire career at Hopkins, with the exception of a one-semester Sabbatical leave at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. He was made Professor of Economics in July 1983, and served as Acting Chair during spring term, 1983-84. He then served as Department Chair from July, 1985 through June, 1992.

Dr. Hamilton is an applied microeconomist. Until approximately 1985, virtually all of his research was in the broad field of urban economics, with specialties in urban public finance and urban transportation. His work during the 1970s on the Tiebout Hypothesis led to a resurgence in professional interest in the workings of local public economies.

Subsequently, Dr. Hamilton's research has been more eclectic. He has recently published a paper on the economics of professional sports stadia, with emphasis on the new stadia in Baltimore. He has a working paper on the causes of the recent (two-decade) dramatic rise in automobile longevity. This work shows that essentially all of the longevity improvement is unrelated to any improvements in the inherent durability of cars themselves.

More recently he has used a food-demand function and the PSID data set to estimate the annual bias in the Consumer Price Index, separately for whites and blacks. As this method has very limited data requirements, he is currently determining whether the technique might fruitfully be applied to the measurement of inflation in other countries, including developing countries whose data are poor.

Dr. Hamilton teaches the Elements of Microeconomics course in the undergraduate curriculum, as well as an upper-level seminar on the Economics of Antitrust (jointly taught with antitrust attorney Robert Levy). 

Recent Publications

Hamilton, Bruce W. and Peter Kahn [forthcoming], "Baltimore's Camden Yards Ballparks," The Economics of Sports Stadiums, Brookings Institution <PDF Copy>  

Hamilton, Bruce W. and Molly K. Macauley [1991], "Determinants to Consequences of Public-Private School Choice," Journal of Urban Economics, May  

Hamilton, Bruce W. [1991], "The Baby Boom, the Baby Bust, and the Housing Market: Another Look," Real Estate and Urban Economics

Working Papers

Hamilton, Bruce W. [1998], "The True Cost of Living: 1974-1991" <PDF Copy>

Hamilton, Bruce W. and Molly K. Macauley [1998], "Heredity and Environment: Causes of Postwar Movements In Automobile Longevity" <PDF Copy>

Hamilton, Bruce W. and Mary Burke [1996], "The Coase Conjecture in Continuous Time: Imperfect Durability, Endogenous Durability, and Aftermarkets" <PDF Copy>

Classes Taught:

Economics 102 -- Elements of Microeconomics:
Economics 310 -- Economics of Antitrust (with Robert Levy)