The Century Foundation Welcomes Economics Expert Mark Thoma as a New Fellow

Jan 20, 2012

Authors: Christy Hicks

Publisher(s): The Century Foundation

January 20, 2012--The Century Foundation welcomes as a new fellow Mark Thoma, a professor of economics at the University of Oregon and the author of the Economist’s View blog. His widely read blog synthesizes current economic research for non-experts and highlights ideas for strengthening American social insurance and employment opportunities. His research involves the effects of monetary policy on inflation, output, unemployment, interest rates, and other macroeconomic variables. He also has conducted research in other areas, such as the relationship between the political party in power and macroeconomic outcomes.

Thoma discusses some of the important economic policy issues he will be examining and writing about in a new Policycast on The Century Foundation website, www.tcf.org.  You can listen to the podcast here.

“Mark pursues his own research about ways to improve the economic outlook for Americans, and he also has his finger on the pulse of the debate, discussion, and discovery around our current economic policy,” said Janice Nittoli, president of The Century Foundation. “We are so excited to provide a new platform for him both to continue his important research, and to connect his ideas with broad audiences that range from journalists, to policy makers, to interested citizens.”

Thoma joined the University of Oregon faculty in 1987 and served as head of the economics department for five years. He received his PhD from Washington State University.

Thoma is one of five newly appointed Century Foundation fellows, all of whom are widely recognized as insightful generators of distinctive and provocative public policy ideas. Together they will advance TCF’s mission of providing bold, thought-provoking responses to unequal opportunity in America and the challenges to the United States of the diffusion of global power. The other  new fellows are: Daniel Alpert, the founding managing partner of Westwood Capital, LLC, who writes perceptively about the causes of the economic woes facing America and the rest of the world while recommending ambitious policy responses;  Michael Cohen, a foreign policy analyst and author who writes about U.S. foreign policy, national security, and foreign assistance, and whose critiques of U.S. military policy, and particularly America’s approach to the Afghanistan war, have proven to be prescient; Amy B. Dean, whose Century Foundation book, A New, New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement, and other work highlights innovative alternatives to traditional unions that have arisen throughout the country and how these local institutions realize economic change; and Suzanne Mettler, a Cornell University political scientist who analyzes the problems of policymaking through tax expenditures, sources of the public’s alienation from government through examination of health care reform, and the implications for democracy of higher education policy and stagnating access to college.

“Our new fellows share the rare ability to connect dots about the ways in which U.S. policy has gone astray and how it can be repaired in politically plausible ways over the course of the next decade,” said Greg Anrig, vice president of policy and programs. “In each case, their insights are distinctive and not widely known by the general public, but their arguments are persuasive and have the potential to transform policy debates in the United States.”

The Century Foundation is a progressive nonpartisan think tank. Originally known as the Twentieth Century Fund, it was founded in 1919 and initially endowed by Edward Filene, a leading Republican businessman and champion of fair workplaces and employee ownership strategies, all with an eye to ensuring that economic opportunity is available to all. Today, TCF issues analyses and convenes and promotes the best thinkers and thinking across a range of public policy questions.  Its work today focuses on issues of equity and opportunity in the United States, and how American values can be best sustained and advanced in a world of more diffuse power.

For more information on The Century Foundation and its work, please visit www.tcf.org. You can keep up with the latest news from Century by signing up for our mailing list, following us on Twitter @tcfdotorg and joining our Facebook page.  For media inquiries, contact Christy Hicks at hicks@tcf.org or (212) 452-7723.