Bill Lester is an associate professor of urban and regional planning at San José State University, specializing in urban and regional economic development. His research focuses on the role of social institutions and policy interventions in reducing income inequality and promoting balanced economic growth.
He also is an expert in policy evaluation and economic impact analysis. Before joining San José State University, he spent 10 years as an associate professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lester received his Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley, his M.A. in urban planning and policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and his B.A. (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in urban studies and economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Funded Research
Authored by T. William Lester
More resilient small U.S. restaurants and their workers can exit the coronavirus recession and sustain an equitable economic recovery (opens in a new tab)
Issue Briefs MAY 7, 2020
What U.S. Labor Department appointee Puzder doesn’t know about the minimum wage and how labor markets work (opens in a new tab)
Issue Briefs FEB 8, 2017
The consequences of higher labor standards in full service restaurants: A comparative case study of San Francisco and the Research Triangle in North Carolina (opens in a new tab)
Issue Briefs MAR 1, 2016
T. William Lester’s Working Papers
Inside monopsony: Employer responses to higher labor standards in the full service restaurant industry (opens in a new tab)
Working Papers MAR 1, 2016
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