Brookings Announces New Editors for Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: Douglas W. Elmendorf, N. Gregory Mankiw and Lawrence H. Summers to Edit Journal

Editor’s note: In January 2009, Douglas Elmendorf became director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Learn more »

The Brookings Institution has named three prominent economists as co-editors of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA), the flagship economic journal of the Institution, Brookings President Strobe Talbott announced today.

The new co-editors, whose first volume will appear in mid-2008, are Douglas W. Elmendorf, N. Gregory Mankiw, and Lawrence H. Summers.

Elmendorf will become a Brookings senior fellow and the Edward M. Bernstein Scholar in the Brookings Economic Studies program, effective June 1. He previously served as a staff member of the Federal Reserve Board, and at the Treasury Department, the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and the Congressional Budget Office.

Mankiw is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University and was the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005. Mankiw’s introductory economics textbook Principles of Economics (South-Western/Thomson, 4th ed; 2007) has sold more than a million copies and has been translated into twenty languages.

Summers is the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University. He previously served as president of Harvard University, Secretary of the Treasury, and chief economist of the World Bank. In 1993, he received the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded every two years to the outstanding American economist under the age of 40. Summers also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institution.

“The new editorial team brings a wealth of extraordinary scholarship and outstanding service in economic policy-making,” said William G. Gale, Brookings vice president and director of the Economic Studies program. “The editors have reputations as clear and forceful writers and speakers who recognize the direct connection between clarity and impact. They will engage the best minds in the economics profession to analyze important and timely economic issues and will bring their own high standards to the papers they solicit and publish.”

Founded in 1970 by Arthur Okun and George Perry, the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity journal contains research papers presented at twice-yearly conferences organized at the Brookings Institution. The authors and discussants of the articles are distinguished economists from leading universities and institutions. The journal’s audience includes academic economists, government officials, and members of the financial and business communities.

The journal is currently edited by George Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings, who has served as editor since the inception of the journal, and William Brainard, Arthur Okun Professor Emeritus of Economics at Yale University, who has served as editor since 1980 after Okun passed away. Brainard and Perry will be editors emeritus of the journal beginning in 2008.

“George Perry and Bill Brainard made the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity one of the premier economic journals in the country. Their dedicated stewardship will serve as an example to guide BPEA in the future,” said Gale.

###

The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and innovative policy solutions. For more than 90 years, Brookings has analyzed current and emerging issues and produced new ideas that matter – for the nation and the world.