Welcome to Economic Policy!

After the presidential and congressional elections are completed this fall, you will see starting in January, the installation of a new U.S. federal government, setting up of new committees in Congress, and the development of new agendas for economic policy. As you know we have many problems to address: the housing crisis, the credit crunch, the addiction to oil, the rising cost of living, and much more. In February, the students will go to the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee to hear Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System, testify on his semi-annual report on the US economy and monetary policy over the past six months. Our class will have a seminar in the boardroom of the Fed, where interest rate policy is made every six weeks. We also study international economic policy making by the US federal government and by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, by having briefings at their headquarters. We will study the global food crisis, the global energy crisis, and the instability of the international financial system. There is much work to be done and you can be here and see policy makers and policy analysts struggle with these domestic and global problems.
Two days a week, my students have their internships at such places as the Bureau of Economic Analysis, American Enterprise Institute, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Bank of America, UBS, Public Citizen, American Express Financial Services, and many more exciting places. This is a special program where you get to test what you learn in your economic classes against the reality of policy and politics in Washington. See the program’s website at www.econ-policy.net We’re going to have a great semester; I hope to see you in D.C.!

Sue Headlee, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics