NBER Research Associates Honored by AEA

The American Economic Association has named NBER Research Associates Barry Eichengreen, James Poterba, and Carmen M. Reinhart distinguished fellows, and John Van Reenen a foreign honorary member. The Association also honored Sadie T.M. Alexander posthumously as a distinguished fellow.

Eichengreen, a leading scholar of economic history and international macroeconomics, is the George C. Pardee and Helen N. Pardee Chair and Distinguished Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is affiliated with the NBER programs on Development of the American Economy, International Finance and Macroeconomics (IFM), International Trade and Investment, and Monetary Economics (ME).

Poterba, a public finance economist whose work focuses primarily on tax policy and household finance, is the president of the NBER and the Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT. He is affiliated with the NBER programs on the Economics of Aging, Corporate Finance, and Public Economics.

Reinhart, an expert on international finance and economic development, currently serves as senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank. She is on leave from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she is the Minos A. Zombanakis Professor of the International Financial System, and from the NBER, where she is an affiliate of the IFM and ME programs.

Alexander, the only economist ever to receive the distinguished fellow award posthumously, was the first African American to earn a PhD in economics in the United States. She was excluded from academic positions on account of her race and gender, completed a law degree after her PhD, and was a life-long advocate for civil rights and economic equality.

Van Reenen is the Ronald Coase Chair in Economics and a School Professor at the London School of Economics. He is affiliated with the NBER Labor Studies and Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship programs.

The AEA press release provides further details on these awards.