Eric French is a senior economist in the economic research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. French provides research and analysis in the areas of econometrics, labor and health economics.

Much of his research focusses on household's ability to cope with health and catastrophic medical expense shocks by adjusting work hours and savings.

He has taught at the Department of Economics at Northwestern University and has been research scholar at the Social Security Administration.

French received a B.A. in economics from the University of California–Berkeley, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.