Martin S. Feldstein To Be Awarded the 2012 SIEPR Prize

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
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Michelle Mosman
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Martin S. Feldstein To Be Awarded the 2012 SIEPR Prize

 

June 14, 2012­(Stanford, CA) The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) is pleased to announce the second biennial prize for contributions to economic policy.  This year’s winner of the SIEPR Prize for Contributions to Economic Policy is Martin S. Feldstein, current Harvard professor, the former President of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a former Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors.  The first SIEPR Prize recipient was Paul Volcker.
 
The idea for the SIEPR Prize and the initial funding came from former Secretary of Treasury, Labor and State George P. Shultz.  The Prize recognizes those who have made outstanding lifetime contributions to improving the design and conduct of economic policy either in the U.S. or abroad.  SIEPR’s selection committee consists of five exceptional leaders in economic policy: Secretary George Shultz, Jim Poterba (President of the National Bureau of Economic Research), John Shoven (Director of SIEPR), and Kenneth Arrow and Gary Becker, both Nobel Prize winners in economics.  The recipient of the SIEPR prize receives an award of $100,000.
 
The selection committee determined that Martin S. Feldstein is highly deserving of the SIEPR Prize.  Feldstein is the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University where he began teaching in 1967.  In addition, he is President Emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He served as President and CEO of the NBER from 1977-82 and 1984-2008. The NBER is a private, nonprofit research organization that has specialized for more than 90 years in producing nonpartisan studies of the American economy. From 1982 through 1984, Feldstein was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and President Reagan's chief economic adviser. He served as President of the American Economic Association in 2004. In 2006, President Bush appointed him to be a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. In 2009, President Obama appointed him to be a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
 
Dr. Feldstein is a member of the American Philosophical Society, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Econometric Society and a Fellow of the National Association of Business Economics. He is a Trustee of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Trilateral Commission, the Group of 30, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute. He has received honorary doctorates from several universities and is an Honorary Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. In 1977, he received the John Bates Clark Medal of the American Economic Association, a prize then awarded every two years to the economist under the age of 40 who is judged to have made the greatest contribution to economic science. Dr. Feldstein has been a director of several public corporations. He is also an economic adviser to several businesses and government organizations in the United States and abroad. He is the author of more than 300 research articles in economics and a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Dr. Feldstein is a graduate of Harvard College and Oxford University.
 
SIEPR director John B. Shoven praised Feldstein for his accomplishments and influence on economic policy.  “I think Marty is a perfect choice for this prize.  He led the profession in analyzing Social Security, he was one of the first economists to focus on health policy, and he was ahead of the curve in thinking about how changing demographics are impacting the economy.  He warned early on of the economic costs of large budget deficits.  He is a constant source of ideas on how to improve the functioning of the economy.  We are honored that he has accepted the SIEPR Prize.”  The screening process for the award is quite rigorous and many nominees were reviewed from around the globe.
 
SIEPR is an economic policy research organization and is non-partisan in political orientation.  SIEPR scholars conduct research on important economic policy issues in the United States and other countries.  SIEPR’s goal is to inform and advise policy makers and the public and to guide their decisions with sound policy analysis.  In the course of their research, SIEPR faculty train, educate, and support Ph.D. students as future economic policy analysts. 
 
SIEPR Prize info here:
https://siepr.stanford.edu/siepr_prize_information