Allison Shertzer

Allison Shertzer is an economic advisor and economist in the Research Department at the Philadelphia Fed. Allison’s research focuses on the economic development of American cities and the connection between a city’s history and present-day economic opportunity.

Allison’s work explores how past decisions about land use and infrastructure have shaped cities today. She is interested in housing affordability and migration, particularly how to make economic opportunity more widely available.

Allison is passionate about delving into archives and visualizing the history of cities through map digitization, a tool that can help everyone — from students to journalists to policymakers — better understand the development of U.S. cities. In the past, she used this type of historical digitization to study redlining, segregation, and zoning.

Prior to joining the Bank in 2023, Allison was an associate professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, having started there as an assistant professor of economics in 2011. Allison was previously a faculty research fellow with the National Bureau of Economic Research from 2012 to 2019 and then became a research associate.  

Allison has a Ph.D. and an M.A. in economics from UCLA, as well as a B.S. in industrial engineering and a B.A. in mathematics from Arizona State University.