Stephanie Aaronson joins Brookings as Vice President and Director of Economic Studies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Brookings Institution announced today that Stephanie Aaronson has been appointed Vice President and Director of the Economic Studies program. Aaronson comes to Brookings from the Federal Reserve Board where she was most recently Assistant Director of the Division of Research and Statistics. She succeeds Ted Gayer, who was appointed Executive Vice President of the Institution in April. Aaronson will also hold the title of Senior Fellow in Economic Studies.

Of Aaronson’s appointment, Brookings President John Allen said, “It is my distinct honor to welcome Stephanie to the Brookings Institution. The depth of her experience in both academic research and organizational leadership make her uniquely qualified to guide the critical work of our Economic Studies program, and I look forward to working with her as a colleague and partner every step of the way.”

In her position at the Federal Reserve Board, Aaronson helped in the preparation of the economic forecast submitted to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), provided policy analysis to the Board and FOMC in support of their monetary policy functions, and had oversight of sections that produce analysis, forecasting, and research regarding inflation, monetary policy, and macroeconomic activity and uncertainty. Aaronson’s own academic research focuses on labor markets, including the issue of why, over the past two decades, an increasing share of Americans are not participating in the labor force.  Her research has been published in a variety of academic journals and cited in publications such as the Economist and the New York Times.

In addition to her academic work, Aaronson has been active in efforts to improve diversity and inclusion at the Federal Reserve, as well as efforts to promote research on economic inclusion within the Federal Reserve System. Her background in the tools and systems necessary to drive institutional change will be invaluable to Brookings’s own priority of advancing diversity and inclusion throughout the Institution.

“After nearly two decades at the Federal Reserve Board, I’m looking forward to this next step and am thrilled to be joining Brookings—an Institution’s whose mission I have long admired. Now more than ever, I see the value in independent research and robust dialogue about how the economy works and how to make it work better for all Americans.”

Aaronson joined the Federal Reserve Board in 2000, and was appointed chief of what was then the Macroeconomic Analysis section in 2012. Between 2011 and 2012 she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Policy at the Department of Treasury, where she received an award for meritorious service. In 2010 she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Economics at Yale University. Aaronson has an AB degree in history from Columbia College and a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.