Portrait of John A. List

Birthday profile

John A. List

John A. List, American economist and academic

Born
September 25, 1968
Age in 2026
58
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1968

About John A. List

John August List is an American economist known for his work in establishing field experiments as a tool in empirical economic analysis. Since 2016, he has served as the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he was Chairman of the Department of Economics from 2012 to 2018, and Director of the Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics since 2025. Since 2016, he has also served as Visiting Robert F. Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. In 2011, List was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society. In 2024, Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society for economics, gave List the biennial John R. Commons Award. In addition to his university career, List served as the first chief economist for taxi company Uber, and later for the similar company Lyft. List became the first chief economist for the Walmart corporation in April 2022. In 2001 he was awarded a full professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park. The book became an international best-seller and presented List's field experiments from the early 1990s until 2010.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

John A. List timeline

  1. In 2001 he was awarded a full professorship at the University of Maryland, College Park.
  2. The book became an international best-seller and presented List's field experiments from the early 1990s until 2010.
  3. In 2011, List was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society.
  4. List became the first chief economist for the Walmart corporation in April 2022.

The world when John A. List was born

John A. List was born in 1968. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1968

  • #1 song"Hey Jude" – The Beatles
  • Top movie2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Best-selling bookAirport – Arthur Hailey

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBob Beamon shatters long jump record at Mexico City Olympics
  • Top headlineMLK and RFK assassinated
  • Technology milestoneDouglas Engelbart demonstrates the computer mouse
  • Defining fadTie-dye everything
  • Notable inventionComputer mouse (Douglas Engelbart)
  • World population3.55 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderLyndon B. Johnson
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population200.7M

1968 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John A. List's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19682026
Gas$0.34$3.45/gal
Average home$15,600$435,000
Average income$10,300$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.31$11.95
Postage stamp$0.06$0.73
Population200.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.