Rate My Professor Curtis Simon

Curtis Simon is Professor of Economics in the John E. Walker Department of Economics at Clemson University’s Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, where he has served for over 40 years as recognized in 2025 faculty milestones. He currently coordinates the Ph.D. program in Economics, advises undergraduate Economics students, and participates in university committees such as the Graduate Admissions and Continuing Enrollment Appeals Committee. Simon’s research specializes in labor economics, urban economics, and military manpower, with early investigations into unemployment differentials across U.S. cities and the effects of industrial diversity on frictional unemployment.

His highly cited publications include “Frictional Unemployment and the Role of Industrial Diversity” (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1988), “Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Memorabilia: The Case of Baseball” with Clark Nardinelli (Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1990; 330 citations), “Industrial Specialization and the Returns to Labor” with Charles A. Diamond (Journal of Labor Economics, 1990), and “Matchmaker, Matchmaker: The Effect of Old Boy Networks on Job Match Quality, Earnings, and Tenure” with John T. Warner (Journal of Labor Economics, 1992; 687 citations). Simon explored human capital’s role in urban growth in “Human Capital and Metropolitan Employment Growth” (Journal of Urban Economics, 1998; 578 citations), “The Talk of the Town: Human Capital, Information, and the Growth of English Cities, 1861 to 1961” with Nardinelli (Explorations in Economic History, 1996; 211 citations), and “Human Capital and the Rise of American Cities, 1900–1990” with Nardinelli (Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2002; 437 citations). Recent work addresses fertility and economic dynamics, such as “Do Higher Rents Discourage Fertility? Evidence from U.S. Cities, 1940–2000” with Robert Tamura (Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2009; 180 citations), “Secular Fertility Declines, Baby Booms, and Economic Growth: International Evidence” with Tamura (Macroeconomic Dynamics, 2017), and “Black and White Fertility, Differential Baby Booms: The Value of Equal Education Opportunity” with Tamura and Kevin M. Murphy (Journal of Demographic Economics, 2016). Contributions to military economics cover enlistment incentives and reenlistment, including “Cash Incentives and Military Enlistment, Attrition, and Reenlistment” (2010). Simon’s scholarship has profoundly influenced understandings of labor markets, urbanization, demographics, and policy.