Lauren Johnston

Lauren is a PhD candidate in Economics at the New School for Social Research. She holds a Masters in Global Political Economy and Finance from the New School, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from U.C. Davis. Lauren recently worked as a consultant at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where she researched questions related to primary commodities: how to combat commodity price volatility; which actors benefit from financial speculation in primary commodity markets; and how to support the sustainable development agenda of commodity-dependent countries. Lauren also works with Professor Will Milberg on the impact of offshoring on the U.S. labor share and profit share from 1990s-present, and the impact of intermediate and final goods imports on labor income and profit margins in the U.S. Her own research looks at the distribution of value-added within supply chains, transfer pricing methods within multinational corporations, and the impact of export sectors on country-level growth rates. Previously, she has TA’d courses on theoretical political economy at Barnard and The New School, she has taught a math course for economics graduate students, and she has worked as an ESL teacher and a university writing tutor.