Austin Lentsch is originally from rural South Dakota.  Watching the struggles of mom-and-pop agriculture – coupled with a dearth of middle-class employment alternatives – sparked his interest in technology and policy as avenues to expand opportunity for those left behind by economic change.  

Austin is fascinated by the dynamics that drive the widening urban-rural/rich-poor economic and social divides.  He thinks that the usefulness of AI and the direction of technology is up for grabs as something that could widen or narrow those societal splits.  He also wonders what the future of U.S. antitrust policy will look like – but thinks that the concentration of many sectors today offers a fascinating sandbox to study the effects of tech monopolies and labor monopsonies.  He looks forward to investigating (and finding ways to improve) the prospects of workers without a college degree and understanding how institutions, innovation, power, and policy can generate shared prosperity.  

Austin is currently working on his PhD in Public Policy/Economics as an NSF Graduate Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.  Prior to HKS, Austin was an economic consultant at Charles River Associates in Antitrust & Competition Economics.  Most recently, he worked at MIT with Daron Acemoglu, David Autor, and Simon Johnson to launch the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and help publish the book Power and Progress.  Austin has two dogs (Ginger and Sophie), and enjoys comedy clubs, musical performances, and endurance sports.