Martin Feldstein
Martin Feldstein | |
---|---|
13th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers | |
In office October 14, 1982 – July 10, 1984 | |
President | Ronald Reagan |
Preceded by | Murray Weidenbaum |
Succeeded by | Beryl Sprinkel |
Personal details | |
Born | Martin Stuart Feldstein November 25, 1939 |
Contributions | Feldstein-Horioka puzzle |
Awards | John Bates Clark Medal (1977) |
Information at IDEAS / RePEc | |
Martin Stuart Feldstein (/ˈfɛldstaɪn/ FELD-styne;[4] November 25, 1939 – June 11, 2019) was an American economist.[5] He was the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University and the president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He served as president and chief executive officer of the NBER from 1978 to 2008 (with the exception of 1982 to 1984).[6] From 1982 to 1984, Feldstein served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and as chief economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan (where his deficit hawk views clashed with the Reagan administration's large military expenditure policies). Feldstein was also a member of the Washington-based financial advisory body the Group of Thirty from 2003.[7]
Early life and education
Feldstein was born in New York City to a Jewish family[8] and graduated from South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York. He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard University (AB, summa cum laude, 1961), where he was affiliated with Adams House, and then attended Nuffield College, Oxford (B.Litt., 1963; M.A., 1964; D.Phil., 1967).[6] He was a Research Fellow there from 1964 to 1965, an Official Fellow from 1965 to 1967 and was later an Honorary Fellow of the college.[6]
Career
In 1977, he received the
In 1997, writing about the upcoming European monetary union and the euro, Feldstein warned that the "adverse economic effects of a single currency on unemployment and inflation would outweigh any gains from facilitating trade and capital flows" and that, while "conceived of as a way of reducing the risk of another intra-European war", it was "more likely to have the opposite effect" and "lead to increased conflicts within Europe and between Europe and the United States."[14][15]
In 2005, Feldstein was widely considered a leading candidate to succeed chairman
Feldstein served as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 2006 to 2009.[19]
Feldstein said in March 2008 he believed the United States was in a recession and it could be a severe one.[20]
As a member of the board of AIG Financial Products, Feldstein was one of those who had oversight of the division of the international insurer that contributed to the company's crisis in September 2008. In May 2009, Feldstein announced he would step down as a director of AIG.[21] He served as a board member for Eli Lilly and Company.[22] He also previously served on the boards of several other public companies including JPMorgan and TRW.[citation needed]
On February 6, 2009, Feldstein was announced as one of U.S. President Obama's advisors on the
Latter positions
He was a consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense.[6]
He served on the board of directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Group of 30 and the
In 2011 he was included in the
In 2017, Feldstein joined a small group of "Republican elder statesmen" proposing that conservatives embrace carbon taxes, with all revenue rebated with lump-sum dividends, as a policy to deal with global climate change. The group also included
Significant interests and publications
"Domestic Saving and International Capital Flows"
Published in 1980, "Domestic Saving and International Capital Flows" article made a significant contribution to international economics. Feldstein along with Charles Horioka contributed to the overall understanding of the international capital market by revealing the essence of the flow of capital in the world capital market. By examining the relationship between domestic investment and domestic savings of 21 OECD countries, Feldstein and Horioka provide statistical estimates revealing that almost all incremental savings of a country will remain in that country despite greater investment opportunities abroad. Puzzled by the unexpected direct relationship between domestic savings and investment, Feldstein and Horioka's findings have become known as the "Feldstein-Horioka Puzzle".[29]
"Social Security, Induced Retirement, and Aggregate Capital Accumulation"
Published in 1974, "Social Security, Induced Retirement, and Aggregate Capital Accumulation" made a significant contribution to social insurance. Feldstein facilitated a greater understanding of the effects of social security upon household consumption and savings. The article provides a theoretical analysis of the impact of social security on an individual's decision regarding retirement and the amount of savings necessary for such retirement. Feldstein claimed that Social Security results in individuals deciding to save less for retirement and to retire earlier.[30]
Eight years after Feldstein's study, Dean Leimer and Selig Lesnoy of the U.S. Social Security Administration attempted to replicate his results and uncovered programming mistakes in Feldstein's analysis that invalidated his earlier results,[31] which Feldstein acknowledged and issued a retraction.[32] They also found what they deemed unreasonable assumptions in the construction of the social security wealth variable. After correcting these issues, Leimer and Lesnoy found a much weaker relationship between Social Security and personal savings than Feldstein had originally suggested. In fact, their results indicated that Social Security may have contributed to increased savings.[33]
European Union, euro and sovereign debt crisis
Feldstein participated in the academic and popular debate on the European Union (EU) and the European common currency from its early stages, with increased interest during the sovereign debt crisis. Taking a political economy perspective, Feldstein argued that the European Union project in general and the creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in particular were driven by a strange mix of pro-European internationalism and the pursuit of strictly national interests.[15] Although nuanced in his criticism, Feldstein can be characterized as a Eurosceptic.[34] Feldstein, an enthusiastic supporter of a single market for goods and services in the EU, argued that this goal does not require a monetary union.[35] Furthermore, the creation of a single currency in the EU would increase political tensions in the union, as not all countries share the anti-inflationary stance of the German policy makers.[36] In military and foreign policy, the objective of achieving a political union (of which the monetary unification is only one aspect) would promote the development of a common foreign and defense policy capable of projecting strength on the international scene.[37] During the sovereign debt crisis, Feldstein argued in favor of a "eurozone holiday" solution whereby the countries most affected by the crisis (such as Greece) would temporarily leave the eurozone, revert to their national currencies, devalue and re-enter at a lower exchange rate a few years later, a policy that would ensure a boost in international competitiveness solid enough to offset the economic recession.[38]
Teaching
A well-known figure on the
Feldstein may have made one of his greatest impacts by the concentration of his students in top echelons of government and academia, such as
References
- ^ "Eli M. Noam". Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 16, 2016.
- ^ "Sachs's CV" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2017. Retrieved October 12, 2016.
- ^ Chetty, Nadarajan. "Consumption commitments, risk preferences, and optimal unemployment insurance". Retrieved January 23, 2014 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Safire, William (December 25, 1983). "On Language; Stine or Steen?". The New York Times.
- ^ "Obituary: Martin S. Feldstein". The Boston Globe. Boston. June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "Martin Feldstein". www.nber.org. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
- ^ "MARTIN FELDSTEIN Obituary (2019) – Belmont, MA – Boston Globe". Legacy.com.
- ISBN 9780801854460.
- ^ Rampell, Catherine (January 4, 2009). "Prize Deflation". Economix Blog. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
- ^ "Martin Feldstein". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved April 26, 2022.
- ^ "Top 10% Authors, as of December 2011. Research Papers in Economics. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- )
- ^ Feldstein, Martin. "EMU and international conflict" Archived October 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Foreign Affairs, November/December 1997.
- ^ a b Feldstein, Martin. (1997). The Political Economy of the European Economic and Monetary Union: Political Sources of an Economic Liability. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 11(4), pp. 23–42.
- ^ "The Next Alan Greenspan". The New York Times. October 6, 2005. Archived from the original on March 18, 2014. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
- ^ "Martin Feldstein" Archived June 21, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. The Bradley Foundation. May 3, 2007.
- ^ Feldstein, Marty. "Feldstein’s Resignation Letter". The Wall Street Journal. September 10, 2007.
- ^ a b "Martin Feldstein" Archived October 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. BigSpeak Speakers Bureau. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Worries grow of deeper U.S. recession". CNN. March 21, 2008. Archived from the original on March 23, 2008.
- ^ Ding, Manning (May 27, 2009). "Feldstein To Leave AIG Board. Harvard Crimson.
- ^ "Board of Directors". Investor Relations. Eli Lilly and Company. Archived from the original on March 20, 2006. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff (February 6, 2009). "Panel to Advise Obama on Economy". The New York Times.
- Bilderberg Group. June 2008.
- Bilderberg Group. June 2010.
- ^ "Most Influential 50 in Global Finance List: Bloomberg Markets". Bloomberg.com. September 7, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 21, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Schwartz, John (February 7, 2017). "'A Conservative Climate Solution': Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax". The New York Times.
- JSTOR 2231790.
- S2CID 154340239.
- S2CID 54892823.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - doi:10.3386/w0579.
- ^ "An unsuccessful replication of "Social Security, Induced Retirement, and Aggregate Capital Accumulation" by Martin Feldstein". May 2, 2018.
- ^ Șimandan, Radu (2020). "A Gentle Sceptic: Martin Feldstein and the Euro". Eastern Journal of European Studies. 11 (2): 378–395.
- ^ Feldstein, Martin (1992). "Europe's Monetary Union. The Case Against EMU" (PDF). The Economist.
- ^ Feldstein, Martin (1992). "Europe's Monetary Union. The Case Against EMU" (PDF). The Economist.
- ^ Feldstein, Martin. "EMU and international conflict" Archived October 6, 2008, at the Wayback Machine. Foreign Affairs, November/December 1997.
- ^ Feldstein, Martin (2010). "Let Greece Take a Eurozone 'Holiday'". Financial Times.
- ^ "Ec10, CS50 Once Again Top Course Enrollment – News – The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com.
- ^ Gavin, Robert (June 26, 2005). "A principal of economics: Martin Feldstein". The Boston Globe.
External links
- Faculty profile at Harvard University
- Profile at the National Bureau of Economic Research
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Profile and Papers at Research Papers in Economics/RePEc
- Column archive at Project Syndicate
- Feldstein Says U.S. Dollar Needs to Depreciate, Jan Zilinsky, The Harvard Crimson, January 12, 2007