About the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity
The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity publishes research on current issues in macroeconomics, broadly defined. BPEA emphasizes innovative analysis that has an empirical orientation, takes real-world institutions seriously, and is relevant to economic policy. Papers are presented and discussed at conferences held twice each year, and the papers and discussant remarks from each conference are published in the journal several months later. Research findings are described in a clear and accessible style to maximize their impact on economic understanding and economic policymaking. For example, a paper featured in the Fall 2009 edition, The Age of Reason: Financial Decisions over the Life Cycle and Implications for Regulation by Sumit Agarwal, John C. Driscoll, Xavier Gabaix and David Laibson, was awarded the 2010 TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for outstanding research containing ideas that the public and private sectors can use to maintain and improve America’s lifelong financial well being.
BPEA Co-Editors
The co-editors of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity are David Romer and Justin Wolfers.
David Romer is the Herman Royer Professor of Political Economy. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 1988 and was promoted to full professor in 1993. Professor Romer is co-director of the Program in Monetary Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and is a member of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition, he is a former member of the American Economic Association Executive Committee, a three-time recipient of Berkeley's Graduate Economic Association's distinguished teaching and advising awards, and the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship. Prior to his appointment at Berkeley, he was assistant professor at Princeton University from 1985-1988. He received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1985. Learn more »
Justin Wolfers is a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution and professor of public policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and professor of economics, College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan. Wolfers’ research interests include labor economics, macroeconomics, political economy, economics of the family, social policy, law and economics, public economics, and behavioral economics. Most recently, Wolfers was an Associate Professor of Business and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and a Visiting Associate Professor at Princeton University. He is a Research Associate with the National Bureau for Economic Research, a Research Affiliate with the Centre for Economic Policy Research in London, and an International Research Fellow at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany. Justin earned a bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Sydney and his AM and Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University. Learn more »
Read press release about the co-editors »
Contact BPEA
If you have any questions about BPEA, please contact Heather Kirsch:
BrookingsPapers@brookings.edu