• Phone: 617-353-4299
  • E-Mail:  skahn@bu.edu
  • Website: http://management.bu.edu
  • Office: 518C
    • Office Hours: By Appointment
  • Address: Boston University School of Management
    595 Commonwealth Avenue
    Boston, MA 02215

Profile Summary

Shulamit Kahn has been at Boston University’s School of Management since 1987. She received her Ph.D. from MIT in Economics in 1983, and taught at the University of California, Irvine in the intervening years. Her specialty is labor economics and human resources. Her recent and ongoing research revolves around two major topics. The first is the careers of male and female academics in science. Her present work in this area [joint with Donna Ginther] concentrates on academic careers in biomedicine and is being funded by National Institute on Aging of the NIH.

In another stream of current research joint with Megan MacGarvie , Professor Kahn is studying the contributions of foreign Ph.D. students to global knowledge creation and diffusion, entrepreneurship and innovation. This work, funded by the National Science Foundation, has been presented at universities and conferences around the world.

As part of her recent service to the University, she served on the BU College of Arts and Sciences Dean Search Committee and the BU Law School Dean Search Committee. In service related to women in academia, she sat on the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, was Chair of the Boston University Faculty Council’s Committee on Diversity, and was a co-author of “Major Findings of the 2006 Survey on Equity and Diversity at Boston University.”

She is currently teaching primarily undergraduates and is coordinator for a core SMG course on statistics/economics


  • Education Open or Close

    Ph D, MIT, Economics, 1983.

  • PublicationsOpen or Close

    Journal Articles:

      Kahn, S., (2012). Gender Differences in Academic Promotion and Mobility at a Major Australian University. Economic Record, 88(282), .

    Book Chapters:

      Kahn, S., MacGarvie, M., (2012). The Effects of the Foreign Fulbright Program on Knowledge Creation. NBER 50th Anniversary Conference Volume on the Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

      Ginther, D., Kahn, S., (Accepted). Education and Academic Career Outcomes for Women of Color in Science and Engineering. Washington: Seeking Solution: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia - A Conference Volume. National Academy Press..

      Ginther, D., Kahn, S., (Accepted). Women's Careers in Academic Social Science: Progress, Pitfalls and Plateaus.. Cambridge: Alessandro Lanteri and Jack Vromen, eds. The Economics of Economists -- Institutional Settings, Individual Incentives, and Future Prospects. Cambridge University Press.

  • Research PresentationsOpen or Close

    Invited Lectures:

      Kahn, S., (Presenter and Author), NIH Causal Factors and Interventions Workshop, Women in Biomedicine: Jobs and Salaries, National Institutes of Health, NIH Washington DC. (November 8, 2012).

      Ginther , D., (Presenter and Author), Kahn, S., (Presenter and Author), Seeking Solutions: Maximizing American Talent by Advancing Women of Color in Academia, Education and Academic Career Outcomes for Women of Color in Science and Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC. (June 7, 2012).

    Accepted Lectures:

      Kahn, S., (Presenter and Author), MacGarvie, M., (Author Only), BU/BC Green Line Labor Economics Meetings, Do Return Requirements Increase International Knowledge Diffusion? Evidence from the Fulbright Program, BU/BC Departments of Economics, Boston College. (November 30, 2012).

      Kahn, S., (Presenter and Author), LaMattina, G., (Author Only), MacGarvie, M., (Author Only), Ginther, D., (Author Only), Society of Labor Economics Annual Meetings, Hobos, Stars and Immigrant Entrepreneurship, Society of Labor Economics. (May 5, 2012).

  • General ServiceOpen or Close

    Service to the Profession:

      International, Professional, Grant Proposal Reviewer, External, National Institutues of Health , approximately 40 hours spent for the year. (March 6, 2013 - March 26, ).
      Was a member of a review Panel at the NIH on March 26, 2012. Read, summarized, and scored grant applications then met with committee at NIH in DC to score grants.


  • Editorial And Review ActivitiesOpen or Close

    Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Ad Hoc Reviewer, Papers. (March 28, 2012 - May 5, 2012).