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.

Boskin is T. M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research. In addition, he serves on several federal advisory panels and as an advisor to Presidents and Prime Ministers, Finance Ministries and Central Banks around the world, from the U.S. to China. 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. He chaired the highly influential blue-ribbon Commission on Consumer Price Index, whose report has transformed the way government statistical agencies around the world measure inflation, GDP and productivity.

Dr. Boskin serves on several corporate boards of directors, including Exxon Mobil Corporation, Oracle Corporation and Vodafone PLC, several philanthropic boards, and is a consultant to numerous other businesses and government agencies.

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. 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 books and articles. He is internationally recognized for his research on world economic growth, tax and budget theory and policy, U.S. saving and consumption patterns, and the implications of changing technology and demography on capital, labor, and product markets.

Dr. Boskin has received numerous professional awards and citations, including Stanford’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 1988, the National Association of Business Economists’ Abramson Award for outstanding research and their Distinguished Fellow Award, the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic in 1991 for his contributions to global economic understanding, and the 1998 Adam Smith Prize for outstanding contributions to economics.