Eric Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University, is internationally recognized for his economic analysis of educational issues. His research has had broad influence on education policy in both developed and developing countries, and he received the Yidan Prize for Education Research in 2021. He has authored numerous, highly cited studies on the effects of class size reduction, high stakes accountability, the assessment of teacher quality, and other education related topics. He introduced the idea of measuring teacher quality through the growth in student achievement that forms the basis for the development of value-added measures for teachers and schools.

His book, The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth, identifies the close link between the skills of the people and the economic growth of the nation and shows the economic impact of high quality schools. This analysis is the basis for estimating the economic benefits of a world development standard based on achieving basic skills (Universal Basic Skills: What Countries Stand to Gain). His prior book, Endangering Prosperity: A Global View of the American School, considers the performance of U.S. schools from an international perspective and identifies the costs of not improving student outcomes. In terms of U.S. education policy, Schoolhouses, Courthouses, and Statehouses: Solving the Funding-Achievement Puzzle in America's Public Schools describes how improved school finance policies can be used to meet our achievement goals. Earlier books include Courting Failure, the Handbook on the Economics of Education (seven volumes), The Economics of Schooling and School Quality, Improving America’s Schools, Making Schools Work, Educational Performance of the Poor, and Education and Race. His over 300 scholarly articles on a wide range of education topics are very widely cited both in professional journals and in policy discussions.

He is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the area coordinator for Economics of Education of the CESifo Research Network, and a research fellow of the IZA Institute of Labor Economics. Government service includes being a commissioner on the Equity and Excellence Commission of the U.S. Department of Education, chairing the Board of Directors of the National Board for Education Sciences during 2008-2010, serving as Deputy Director of the Congressional Budget Office from 1983-85, and being a member of the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) from 2019-2023.

He previously held academic appointments at the University of Rochester, Yale University, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and the International Academy of Education along with being a fellow of the Society of Labor Economists and the American Education Research Association. He was awarded the Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in 2004.

He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and completed his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1965-1974.