Thomas Durfee

Thomas Durfee is a PhD student at the University of Minnesota’s Department of Applied Economics, with plans to defend his dissertation this academic year. His dissertation studies the ways in which non-monetary activity can be used as a resource in economic markets. 

His research explores the effect of exemptions to the minimum wage, such as the J1-visa program, the size exemption for small firms, or the Section 10 program for workers with a disability.  He has presented research on the revenue effects of firms that reorganize as a benefit corporation, a legal designation for firms that seek to maximize profit but also engage in some nonprofit-like activity. Examples include Patagonia or Ben & Jerry’s. Thomas’ research explores if reorganizing as a benefit corporation yields higher revenues due to positive marketing or due to reallocating productive capital.  His newest research studies the behavior of active job seekers looking for part time work, those looking for full time work, and how they influence each other. 

His work with the Roy Wilkins Center includes a study of the simulated effect of the minimum wage in Minneapolis and St Paul, a study of the availability of minority owned construction services in New Jersey, and a simulation of the costs paid by society due to racial inequity in health care. The upcoming work from the Wilkins Center includes a review of the effect of time spent at work not working on earnings, the racial earnings gap, and a study of the health effects of workers who earned the minimum wage during its incremental increase in Minneapolis. 

Before his PhD studies, Thomas worked in politics, corporate finance, state property tax administration, camp counseling, and was the treasurer of the Minnesota Tool Library. He received a Master’s in Public Policy from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2016, and in 2011 received his Bachelor’s of Science in Mathematical Economics and his Bachelor’s of Philosophy at the University of St Thomas, just down the road. He also studied economic history for a semester at the University of Edinburgh, notably farther away.

His family lives in the Twin Cities, and he enjoys watching his niece and nephew grow up. In his personal time he enjoys winter camping, he also jogs, plays tabletop games, and edits audio for instructional videos.