Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Renowned Economist Justin Wolfers Joins PIIE

It was announced today that renowned Australian economist Justin Wolfers will join the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) as a Resident Senior Fellow effective September 1, 2014.  Here is more from PIIE about his planned research:
Wolfers' planned research includes a new assessment of the world income distribution, and also how inequality and economic growth affect subjective personal views of happiness and life satisfaction. His research will contribute to the Institute's ongoing set of projects on inequality and inclusive capitalism which are partially supported by a major grant from the ERANDA Foundation.

After his 2014-2015 term at the think tank, Wolfers will receive the title of nonresident senior fellow at PIIE.  After the stint at PIIE, Wolfers plans to return to the University of Michigan where he is a professor of public policy and economics.

Wolfers is currently a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.  He is also an editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA).

Even outside of Brookings and PIIE, Wolfers is a prolific think tanker.  According to his Brookings biography, Wolfers is also a Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research; a Research Fellow with the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn; a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London; an International Research Fellow with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, and a Fellow of the CESifo, in Munich.

In response to a Think Tank Watch post on the top economics think tanks in the world, Wolfers pointed out that he is affiliated with five of the top 10.

Here is what Justin Wolfers had to tell the Washington Post about think tank land when he left Brookings after finishing a stint there as a visiting fellow from 2010-2011.  He rejoined Brookings in 2013.