"The economic paradigm that explains human behavior allows you to understand the way the world works," says Richard Burkhauser, the new chair of Cornell's Department of Policy Analysis and Management (PAM), explaining why economics is his field of choice.

"The beauty of the economic paradigm is that it shows how enlightened self-interest generally results in a behavior that advances appropriate social ends," adds Burkhauser, who will become the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Policy Analysis in the College of Human Ecology. "However, when this does not happen, government intervention may be needed."

Burkhauser should know; he has a long history as a nationally prominent economist and policy scholar who specializes in social security, retirement, disability and minimum-wage policy and in applying social science research results to public policy.

Beginning July 1, Burkhauser will take the reins of PAM, which combines the former Cornell departments of Consumer Economics and Housing and Human Service Studies, but which has a new focus.

"My hope is that this department will become a nationally recognized program of research, teaching and outreach in family/social welfare, health and consumer economics and in how to use social science research methodology to evaluate public policy," says Burkhauser, who has been a professor of economics in the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University's Maxwell School for the past seven years. Previous to that, he was a professor of economics at Vanderbilt University for 10 years and a research economist at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison\ for two years.

Burkhauser, 53, focuses his work on how social policy -- especially social security -- influences behavior and income distribution and what kinds of economic factors influence the decisions of older persons to retire. He is credited with playing a significant role in developing thinking on pensions and social security benefits as assets and helping to develop models that show what makes people retire and how different policies affect their decisions.

"These kinds of findings can then be used to inform policymakers who, in turn, can adjust social security policies accordingly," Burkhauser says.

He also has played a major role in tracing the costs and benefits of social security; in other words -- do people get a good return on their investment into the system? Burkhauser also studies social policy in relation to men's and women's roles. "Many people criticize social security policies because they have not yet recognized the changing roles of women and still view men as heads of households and major wage earners in families," he says.

And in a cross-national research project, Burkhauser has been looking at how policies affect the incomes of widows and widowers in the United States compared with those in Germany. He has found that American widows have a significantly higher risk of poverty than their counterparts in Germany, because German social security provides better protection for survivors.

Burkhauser also will be bringing with him a two-year National Institute of Aging grant to study what happens to the economic well-being of people after they have developed disabilities.

The author or co-author of some 130 technical articles and 11 books and monographs, Burkhauser has served as a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance panel on rethinking disability policy; on the Trends and Issues in Retirement Savings Technical Panel of the 1994 Advisory Council on Social Security; and as a member of the Advisory Panel for the Office of Technology Assessment on bus transportation for persons with disabilities.

"The department and the university are exceedingly fortunate to have Dr. Burkhauser join the Cornell faculty," said W. Keith Bryant, PAM's acting department chair. "He is a nationally prominent economist and policy scholar."

Burkhauser, who will move to Ithaca with his wife Ginger and four daughters, ages 9, 11, 13 and 15, earned a B.A. at St. Vincent College, an M.A. in economics at Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in economics at the University of Chicago.