Dr. Eric Thompson is the department chair and Karl H. Nelson Professor of Economics, and the director of the Bureau of Business Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Dr. Thompson has conducted a broad group of economic impact studies including impact studies of Nebraska agriculture, Sandhill Cranes migration, the Nebraska childcare industry, the Omaha Zoo, the Nebraska horseracing industry, Husker Harvest Days, and the UNL Athletic Department. Dr. Thompson also works on demographic projections and analyses of economic development programs for Nebraska and cities in Nebraska. He also has conducted numerous economic impact studies for the Lincoln Department of Economic Development, the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, various Nebraska industries, and Nebraska tourism attractions. 

Dr. Thompson’s research has received support from the United States Department of Labor, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Economic Analysis, the Nebraska Health, and Human Services System, as well as Lincoln, Omaha, and Nebraska organizations and agencies. In his previous employment, Dr. Thompson served as the Director of the Center for Business and Economic Research and a Research Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Thompson received his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1992. His research fields include regional economics, economic forecasting, and state and local economic development. His research has been published in Regional Science and Urban Economics, the Journal of Regional Science, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and the Journal of Cultural Economics.