Frank Giarratani

Professor of Economics

Department of Economics

University of Pittsburgh

Frank Giarratani is Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his bachelor's degree from Northeastern University (1970) and his doctorate from West Virginia University (1975).  Before his appointment at the University of Pittsburgh in 1979, he was a faculty member in the Department of Economics, Georgetown University. At the University of Pittsburgh he served as Chair in the Department of Economics from 1992-1996 and from 2014-2015, and he also served as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the Arts and Sciences from 1996-2000.  Professor Giarratani was a visiting scholar at Cambridge University in 1987, 2001, and 2003. In 2001, he was appointed founding Director of the Center for Industry Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and he directed the Center from 2001-2015.

Professor Giarratani's research specialization is in Regional Economics and in the Economics of the Steel Industry. His work is represented in numerous publications concerning regional economic growth and decline, econometric modeling of regions, structural adjustment in the steel industry, steel plant location decisions, and industry clustering related to the steel industry.  He is co-author (with E. M. Hoover) of a classic textbook in regional economics (Knopf, 1985) and co-authored (with R. Ahlbrandt and R. Fruehan) an award winning book on the steel industry (Oxford, 1996).

In 2003, Professor Giarratani began working in partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to help advance multidisciplinary research concerning industry through the Sloan Industry Studies Program.  In this capacity, he coordinated the activities of the Sloan Industry Studies Committee and helped lay the foundation for the creation of the Industry Studies Association by building a community of scholars committed to industry studies research. The Industry Studies Association was incorporated in October 2007, became tax exempt in September 2008 as a 501 (c) (3) organization, and began accepting general membership in April 2009.  Professor Giarratani served the Industry Studies Association as founding President from 2007-2011, and he continues to serve that organization as a member of the Industry Studies Conference Committee.