Bio

        Peter Murrell, Mancur Olson Professor in the Economics Department, received his B.Sc. (Econ) and M.Sc. (Econ) from the London School of Economics and his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Maryland faculty in 1977 as an assistant professor. He served as chair of the department from 2005 to 2012. From his Ph.D. dissertation days, his research interests have always been in comparative economic institutions, focusing first on the socialist economies of Eastern Europe and the USSR and on the social democracies of post-war Western Europe, then on institutional reforms in post-Soviet countries and China, and currently analyzing the genesis of modern institutions in 17th century England. He has undertaken field research--surveying firms--in Mongolia, Russia, and Romania, an experience that led him to develop new methods of improving the accuracy of survey estimates of corrupt activities.

            He has published 73 peer-reviewed journal articles, 20 book chapters, two books, and one edited collection.  Significant publications this millenium include Assessing the Value of Law in Transition Economies, University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, 2001, "Enterprise Restructuring in Transition: A Quantitative Survey," (with Simeon Djankov) Journal of Economic Literature, September 2002, "Allocating Law-Making Powers: Self-Regulation vs. Government Regulation" (with Peter Grajzl) Journal of Comparative Economics, 2007, "Law, Property Rights and Institutions" (with Donald Clarke and Susan Whiting) in China's Great Economic Transformation, 2009, "Spatial spillovers in the development of institutions," (with Harry H. Kelejian and Oleksandr Shepotylo) Journal of Development Economics 2013, "Misunderestimating Corruption" (with Aart Kraay) in The Review of Economics and Statistics 2016, and "Design and evolution in institutional development: The insignificance of the English Bill of Rights" in the Journal of Comparative Economics in 2017.

        His project work, for the World Bank, USAID, and other organizations, has involved in-country work on educational activities, policy, research, and evaluation in Germany, Poland, Mongolia, the Kyrgyz, Russia, Romania, Philippines, Nigeria, Peru, and China.  He is currently on or has been on the editorial boards of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Comparative Economics, Economic Systems, Economics of Planning, International Economics and Economic Policy, the Eastern Economic Journal, and Comparative Economic Studies.