Paula R. Worthington

Paula R. Worthington is a Senior Lecturer at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, where she also serves as academic director of the School’s Policy Labs program and faculty lead on its MPP program. She is consistently recognized for excellence in teaching, having received nine teaching awards since joining Harris in 2004. While on leave from Harris in 2017-2018, Worthington served as senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington, D.C.

Worthington’s interests are in state and municipal fiscal policies. She is currently co-chair of the Metropolitan Planning Council’s Transportation Committee and a member of the state of Illinois’s Budgeting for Results Commission. She also serves on Cook County’s Independent Revenue Forecasting Commission. Worthington received her PhD in economics from Northwestern University in 1988, and prior to joining Harris, she served in numerous positions at the Federal Reserve Banks of New York and Chicago and at Northwestern University.