Mel Stephens Jr.

Associate Professor of Economics and Faculty Associate, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

Mel Stephens is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan Department of Economics, and Faculty Associate at the Survey Research Center and the Population Studies Center, Institute for Social Research.  He is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His recent research examines how household consumption reacts to the timing of and/or changes in income including the response to Social Security check receipt, paycheck receipt, job loss, the repayment of vehicle loans, and retirement. In addition, he has examined a number of household responses to job loss, the impact of taxes on the intra-household allocation of assets, and the relationship between abortion legalization and adolescent drug use. After receiving his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan, Professor Stephens was a National Institute on Aging Post-Doctoral Research Fellow. Prior to returning to Michigan he was an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University.