Sari Pekkala Kerr is an Economist and Senior Research Scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW). She also teaches at the economics departments of Wellesley College and MIT. Sari's research focuses on the economics of labour markets, firms and human capital. One strand of research examines the role of high-skilled immigration within the U.S. firms, and the overall economic impacts of immigration on the economy. A second strand evaluates the effect of information on labour market prospects on students' choices among study programs. Most recently Sari has started working on several research projects look at entrepreneurship, and its contribution to the U.S. economy.Sari is also actively involved with the academic community in Europe and in the US.
She is a member of Helsinki Economics of Education Research Group (HEERG), a network of economists working on questions related to educational policies and outcomes, particularly in Finland. She has also served as the Scientific Secretary of the European Regional Science Association (ERSA) and as an international expert in the European Union Mutual Learning Panel on the Economics of Immigration. She co-chaired the Labor Economics Finnish Post-Doctoral Program for several years. She has also been a Policy Adviser regarding gender equality in labour markets and immigration. Sari received a University Diploma in Economics from the University of Kent at Canterbury in England, both her M.A. (Economics, Business Studies, Education and Linguistics) and Ph.D. (Economics) from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.
