Newswise — The Federal Reserve Board has appointed Johns Hopkins University Professor Jon Faust as special adviser in the Office of Board Members, effective Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Faust is the Louis J. Maccini Professor of Economics in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the director of the Center for Financial Economics at Johns Hopkins. His appointment is a homecoming of sorts – he served at the Fed before joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2006.
According to a news release by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Faust will become a special adviser at the board, "contributing to the monetary policy process and in staffing the Federal Open Market Committee's subcommittee on communications." Faust will also work with Steven Kamin, director of the Division of International Finance, "in analyzing key international issues."
"Jon has an exceptional breadth of expertise in international economics, monetary economics, finance, and econometrics, along with nearly two decades of prior experience in the Federal Reserve System," said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke in the Fed's news release.
Katherine S. Newman, the James B. Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences explained that Faust has been granted a two year “public service” leave of absence, given only to faculty who have been asked to contribute their expertise to institutions of government. She praised Professor Faust, commenting, “This is a wonderful opportunity for Jon as well as for the Center for Financial Economics. The Federal Reserve calls upon the nation’s most prominent economists for public service and we are honored that they chose a member of our faculty for this important role. Their selection illustrates the remarkable quality of our colleagues. When Jon returns to Johns Hopkins in two years, our students will benefit from his even greater breadth of experience.”
Faust spent nearly 20 years in the Federal Reserve System, rising to the position of assistant director in the Division of International Finance, where he directed research on both international finance and trade. Faust has held visiting faculty posts at Princeton University, Georgetown University, and at the Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research at Indiana University. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley, an M.Phil. in economics from Oxford University, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Iowa. Faust's research spans a broad array of theoretical and applied topics confronted by macroeconomic policymakers, such as econometric measurement of policy effects, political economy of policy, and understanding macro-financial linkages.
In Faust's absence from Johns Hopkins, two co-directors have been appointed to the Center for Financial Economics: Robert Barbera and Jonathan Wright. Barbera is the chief economist at Mount Lucas Management in New York and a fellow at the Center for Financial Economics, where he has taught his "economic forecasting" class each spring for the past nine years. A Johns Hopkins alumnus, Barbera earned his both his bachelor's degree and doctorate from the Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering in 1974 and 1978, respectively. Wright is a professor in the Department of Economics in the Krieger School who specializes in econometrics, empirical macroeconomics and finance. Prior to joining the Johns Hopkins faculty in 2008, Wright worked for nine years at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington.
"Jonathan and Bob are an extraordinary team to lead the Center for Financial Economics," said Joseph Harrington, chair of the Department of Economics. "Since the CFE's creation, they have been central contributors to its intellectual life and have been instrumental in bringing research and practice to our students. It is that blended scholar-practitioner approach that singularly defines the CFE in the academic landscape, and Jonathan and Bob are sure to be a dynamic duo for developing that vision."
“We are equally fortunate to be able to call on Bob Barbera,” Newman said. “His many years of experience in finance are a boon to our students and his own research is of great value to the public. I look forward to working with both Jonathan and Bob as we move forward with the Center for Financial Economics.”
###Johns Hopkins University news releases can be found on the World Wide Web at http://releases.jhu.edu/Information on automatic E-mail delivery of science and medical news releases is available at the same address.
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