Daniel P. Murphy

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I am a faculty member at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, where I have taught macroeconomics in the First-Year MBA curriculum since 2013. I also offer the second-year elective “Markets, Governments, and Society” and teach in several executive-education programs. I earned my PhD from the University of Michigan, and I often credit my formative experiences at Denver’s East High School for inspiring my research interests.

My work focuses on cost-effective strategies to prevent and mitigate recessions while ensuring sustainable public finances. I combine theoretical and empirical methods, paying special attention to how policies affect different segments of society and how housing markets interact with the macroeconomy.

A significant portion of my research explores the impact of Department of Defense spending on local economies. Through detailed regional data, I document pervasive economic slack in the U.S. economy before the COVID-19 pandemic and show that, under these conditions, targeted government spending can substantially boost employment and incomes—particularly for individuals with lower levels of formal education. Additionally, I find that such spending can yield broader social benefits, including reductions in mortality and disability.

However, high public debt levels often constrain the government’s ability to deploy fiscal stimulus precisely when it would be most beneficial. Several of my theoretical papers propose mechanisms to combat recessions while minimizing the growth of government debt. I investigate how these strategies depend on the type of downturn and on whether greater authority should be conferred to central banks.

I also study how policy choices shape low-income households’ well-being. Monetary expansions, for example, can help boost employment, yet they may also drive up living costs—especially housing. My work demonstrates that housing market expansions tend to amplify the costs for low-income households, so assessing the net benefits of expansionary policies requires an understanding of both employment gains and shifting housing expenses.

Beyond macroeconomic stabilization, my research explores how consumer spending patterns evolve and how home size and residential density can influence consumption, interest rates, and broader policy effectiveness. Finally, I examine efficient and equitable ways to raise public revenue—particularly through land taxation. Recent studies evaluate the local effects of land value taxes and address potential implementation roadblocks.

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Faculty Lead for The Sustainability Initiative

Executive Education for

• Secretary of Defense Executive Fellows Program
• World Bank MIGA Development Program
• CoStar Senior HiPo Program
• International Food Distributors Association Executive Development Program
• ESMT Bringing Technology to Market
• U.S. Navy Insights into Industry Management