ILR Directory

Linda Barrington is Managing Director of the Institute for Compensation Studies (ICS) in the ILR School at Cornell University, an interdisciplinary initiative in that analyzes, teaches, and communicates broadly about monetary and non-monetary rewards from work. 

Throughout her career, Barrington has completed research on global living standards, the working poor, gender and poverty, new workforce entrants, CEO perceptions of their top challenges, and executive compensation. Her work appears in the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Economic History, and the Historical Statistics of the U.S., as well as numerous reports by The Conference Board including Does A Rising Tide Lift All Boats? America's Full-Time Working Poor Reap Limited Gains in the New Economy; Increasing U.S. Business Investment in Postsecondary Credentialing for New Workforce Entrants; and the annual U.S. Salary Increase Budgets report. She is also editor and contributing author to The Other Side of the Frontier: Economic Explorations into Native American Economic History. Underwriting for her research has come from various sources, including the Atlantic Philanthropies, Rockefeller Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, and the Gates Foundation. She has appeared on CNN, NBC Nightly News, as well as All Things Considered and Marketplace on NPR, and has been a frequent contributor on economic issues to MSNBC and Bloomberg cable channels. Barrington comes to the Institute for Compensation Studies from The Conference Board, a global business membership and research organization. There, she held several positions over the past 10 years, including economist, special assistant to the CEO, research director, and most recently Managing Director of Human Capital. Prior to The Conference Board, Barrington was on faculty at Barnard College of Columbia University.

She earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois, and a B.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin.