Kristin Forbes
Kristin J. Forbes | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 21, 1970 Concord, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Macroeconomist, policy consultant, professor |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Known for | Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers; External member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee; Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management |
Kristin J. Forbes (born August 21, 1970) is a prominent American macroeconomist and policy consultant, holding the position of Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management and Global Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her previous roles include membership on the White House Council of Economic Advisers and serving as an external participant on the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England. Forbes' academic work primarily focuses on international macroeconomics, monetary policy, and macroprudential regulation. She also provides guidance to institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, International Monetary Fund, and Bank for International Settlements. Since 2020, she has taken on the role of convener for the Bellagio Group.
Early life and education
Born in Concord, New Hampshire on August 21, 1970, Forbes is the eldest sibling among three children. Her father practiced as an orthopedist, while her mother was a homemaker. She attended Concord High School, where in 1988 she was honored as a Presidential Scholar, earning an opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. and meet President Ronald Reagan.
Forbes pursued higher education at Williams College, exploring subjects such as astrophysics, economics, religion, and psychology. Motivated by Morton O. Schapiro, she decided to major in economics. Graduating in 1992 with a BA in economics, she earned both summa cum laude distinction and election to the Phi Beta Kappa society, along with receiving the David Wells award for the best undergraduate thesis.
Following her undergraduate studies, Forbes began her career at Morgan Stanley within their investment banking division as an analyst. After one year, she was introduced to Nancy Birdsall at the World Bank, who recruited her for a project focused on economic development in Latin America. This experience ignited her passion for macroeconomics and motivated her to pursue doctoral studies and a career in economic policy. She completed her graduate education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under the mentorship of advisors including Paul Krugman, Rudi Dornbusch, and Jaume Ventura, supported by a fellowship from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. During this period, her research encompassed financial contagion and the relationship between inequality and economic growth, including a three-month research visit to India. Forbes was awarded her PhD in 1998 and received the prestigious Robert Solow prize for outstanding achievement in research and teaching.
Career
In 1998, Forbes joined the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management as an assistant professor specializing in economics, securing tenure by 2004. In 2009, she was appointed Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management and Global Economics at MIT.[1] Additionally, she holds affiliations with the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center for Economic and Policy Research, while also being a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[1] Forbes has previously contributed to the editorial board of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.[2]
U.S. Department of Treasury and Council of Economic Advisers
Forbes launched her career in public policy in 2001, taking on the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Quantitative Policy Analysis focused on Latin America and the Caribbean at the United States Department of the Treasury. Her responsibilities centered on maintaining financial stability within Latin American economies. Subsequently, she joined the Council of Economic Advisers during President George W. Bush's administration, where she earned recognition as the youngest member of the council. During her tenure at the CEA, her analysis primarily addressed China's expanding economic influence, highlighting its more pronounced effects on Asian labor markets relative to those in the United States. She departed from this position in 2005 to resume her academic pursuits at MIT.
Bank of England
In 2014, UK Chancellor George Osborne appointed Forbes as an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Bank of England, succeeding Ben Broadbent. Her appointment marked her as only the second woman to serve on the nine-member committee.
Throughout her time at the Bank, Forbes was known for her independent stance, being characterized alternately as both a monetary policy "dove" and "hawk." At first, she resisted raising interest rates due to uncertainties surrounding inflation and the strong Pound sterling's impact on import costs. Later, she shifted to supporting rate increases, arguing that global economic pessimism was exaggerated. Nevertheless, she predominantly voted against hikes. In August 2016, following the Brexit referendum, she was part of a unanimous decision to reduce interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25%.
Following Brexit, Forbes maintained that economic uncertainty had a smaller negative effect on growth than initially predicted and opposed additional stimulus measures or further rate cuts. In June 2017, she joined two other members in voting for an interest rate rise—the first such increase since 2007—which contributed to a significant appreciation of the Pound.
Forbes stepped down from the Bank in June 2017 to return to MIT. She was replaced by Silvana Tenreyro from the London School of Economics. Upon leaving, Forbes critiqued central banks for their prominent public profiles, which she believed hindered assertive inflation management, and pointed out that excessive workloads constrained their capacity for thorough analysis. Then-Governor Mark Carney commended her "insight, fresh-thinking and academic rigour," emphasizing her valuable influence on monetary policy discussions.
Research
In addition to her policy roles, Forbes engages in research within international macroeconomics and monetary economics. Research Papers in Economics ranks her among the top 65 female economists worldwide based on research productivity.
External links
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- Articles without Wikidata item
- 1970 births
- Living people
- People from Concord, New Hampshire
- Williams College alumni
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
- American women economists
- Morgan Stanley employees
- World Bank people
- United States Council of Economic Advisers
- MIT Sloan School of Management faculty
- Group of Thirty
- Economists from New Hampshire
- 21st-century American economists
- Honorary commanders of the Order of the British Empire