Michael Boskin

Research Interests: Public finance, macroeconomics, determinants of economic growth, applied economic theory, applied econometrics, economic measurement.
Current Research: Determinants of long run economic growth; determinants of saving behavior (especially effects of demography); economic problems and behavior of the elderly; tax and public expenditure theory and applications; improved measurement and interpretation of government activity in national income accounts and government budgets; improved measurement of economic activity.
Teaching Interests: Public finance and taxation, economic policy analysis, macroeconomics.

Michael J. Boskin is Tully M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University and at SIEPR. He is also Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. He served as Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) from 1989 to 1993. The independent Council for Excellence in Government rated Dr. Boskin’s CEA one of the five most respected agencies (out of one hundred) in the federal government. While at CEA, Dr. Boskin originated NAFTA, introduced emissions trading for SOx into the Clean Air Act, helped resolve the Third World Debt and S&L; financial crises and place the first effective controls on government spending. He chaired the highly influential blue-ribbon Commission on the Consumer Price Index, whose report has transformed the way government statistical agencies around the world measure inflation, GDP and productivity. Advisor to governments and businesses globally, Dr. Boskin also serves on several corporate and philanthropic boards of directors.

Recipient of numerous professional awards for teaching and research, Dr. Boskin received his B.A. with highest honors and the Chancellor’s Award as outstanding undergraduate in 1967 from the University of California at Berkeley, where he also received his M.A. in 1968 and his Ph.D. in 1971, all in economics. In addition to Stanford and the University of California, he has taught at Harvard and Yale. He is the author of more than one hundred fifty books and articles. He is internationally recognized for his research on world economic growth, tax and budget theory and policy, Social Security, U.S. saving and consumption patterns, and the implications of changing technology and demography on capital, labor, and product markets. His op-eds appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers. He also writes a bi-monthly column on global economics syndicated in 145 countries.