Jessie Handbury is the Gilbert and Shelley Harrison Associate Professor of Real Estate at The Wharton School and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Handbury’s research studies the interplay between spatial and socio-economic inequality, with a focus on the spatial distribution of retail amenities. Her papers have been published in such journals as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Econometrica, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Journal of Urban Economics and has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post. 

Some of Handbury’s recent research studies the role of dollar stores in mediating the welfare impact of the decline in brick-and-mortar retail; measures preferences for social interactions using smartphone data; and considers the long-run impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on residential sorting in cities.  She holds a B.A. in economics and mathematics and an M.A. and Ph.D. in economics, all from Columbia University, and is currently serving as the Vice President of the Urban Economics Association.