Jan Eberly named co-editor of leading policy publication

9/14/2015 - Janice C. Eberly, the James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance and former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Treasury, has been named co-editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, one of the leading publications on global economic policy. Eberly is the first woman to assume the role in the journal’s 45-year history.

Eberly, who returned to Kellogg in 2013 after serving as the department’s assistant secretary for economic policy, will work with academics and policy leaders developing the agenda and research for the Brookings Institution’s flagship economic journal.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to work with one of the leading policy institutions at the interface of the academics and policy work,” Eberly said of the appointment. “The Brookings Papers bring academic structure and research to relevant policy debates.”

In addition to the appointment, Eberly has been named a senior fellow at Brookings, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank renowned for its impeccable research and work as a designer of independent policy. She is joined as co-editor by Jim Stock, professor and former chair of the Harvard Economics department, and member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Increasing the role of women in economic policy

Eberly will be the first woman in the co-editor’s role. The appointment further illuminates the role of the women in economic policy, said Eberly, citing as examples Janet Yellen, current head of the Federal Reserve, and Christy Romer, former chair of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, among many others.

“This is further recognition of the role that women leaders play in the policy environment,” she said.

Banner year for Kellogg faculty

Eberly’s appointment also marks another accolade for Kellogg’s top-tier faculty in 2015. Earlier this year, Timothy Feddersen, the Wendell Hobbs Professor of Managerial Politics, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which Eberly is a member.

In January, the Journal of Finance, the world’s premier journal for financial research, awarded Assistant Professor of Finance Dimitris Papanikolaou the 2014 Smith Breeden Prize — his second in as many years — for best paper of the year.

“We're all delighted by Jan's appointment as an editor of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity,” said Robert McDonald, the Erwin P. Nemmers Professor of Finance and senior associate dean, faculty and research. “It's a wonderful recognition of Jan's accomplishments and the high regard of her peers. Brookings made an outstanding choice.”

Eberly said these kinds of roles outside of the school exemplify “Kellogg’s ability to cut across what seem like boundaries in other organizations and bring our thinking to practice.”

“Kellogg has terrific, thoughtful, creative, energetic faculty who are at the forefront of academics,” she said. “But Kellogg also values having an impact in the world; whether through policy or business or markets, our faculty make a difference.”