The New York Fed’s Research and Statistics Group combines leading-edge academic research with rigorous policy analysis in an intellectually dynamic and collegial environment.

This brochure offers an overview of our research and policy work and describes the distinctive culture and resources of the Group. It also details the responsibilities of our six functions, identifies our current staff of economists, and highlights the economists’ research interests and recent publications.

A First-Rate Research Community
Our most important asset is our more than sixty Ph.D. economists, a concentration of expertise far larger than that of most university economics departments. Recognized as leading researchers in their fields, these individuals bring breadth and depth to their work in macroeconomics, banking, payments, finance, applied microeconomics, and international economics.

Our economists have compiled an impressive record of publishing in the most highly regarded economics and finance journals. Since 2001, thirty-three articles by New York Fed economists have appeared in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Finance, the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, and the Review of Financial Studies. Our economists’ work is also extensively represented in the top field journals and in other important outlets.

The New York Fed is an ideal place to conduct financial markets research. It gives economists the opportunity to interact on a regular basis with the Bank’s Markets Group, where trading on behalf of the Federal Reserve System occurs, and with Bank Supervision staff– while working in a rigorous academic environment. Tobias Adrian, MIT Capital Markets Function

New York Fed economists complement their publishing activity by serving on a variety of editorial boards. Current and recent assignments include:

Our economists are also highly visible in the profession, presenting research at preeminent colleges and universities worldwide. They have given papers at the American Economic Association, the American Finance Association, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the U.S. Treasury Department, and the world’s central banks.

The New York Fed is a great place for economists who want to combine their research with policy work. It provides an opportunity to interact with the most renowned academics in the world through the Visiting Scholars Program and seminars, as well as access to the policy decision-making process. Mary Amiti, London School of Economics and Political Science International Research Function

A First-Year Plan Focusing on Research and Publication
The Research Group recognizes how important it is for young economists to get their research agenda under way as quickly as possible. For new Ph.D. hires, the primary goal in the first year is to produce research and publish in the major journals. To that end, we have designed a first-year plan that allows new economists to devote 90 percent of their time to developing publishable work. We provide additional support in the form of state-of-the-art computing capabilities, ready access to a wide range of economic data, and the assistance of highly trained research associates.

In the first year, new Ph.D. economists also familiarize themselves with the New York Fed’s policy missions by interacting with economists in their area and with other professionals Bankwide. They may contribute to a team working on a policy issue or help prepare a briefing on economic developments for the Bank’s president and senior officers.

My research here has been enriched by work on real-world policy issues. In fact, some of my best research ideas have come directly from questions raised by colleagues in Bank Supervision and from issues that have surfaced during policy debates. Beverly Hirtle, MIT Financial Intermediation Function

A Collegial Culture
The environment here fosters an extraordinary degree of collaboration and exchange. Economists regularly work together on policy initiatives, and this interaction encourages a lively team spirit that can be missing in academia. In addition, economists frequently coauthor articles and make joint presentations.

Adding to the collegial nature of the Research Group is the lack of a divide between senior and junior staff; there is virtually no hierarchy setting new economists apart from their more experienced colleagues.

The Research Group’s collegial atmosphere leads to a remarkable amount of discussion and collaboration across fields. In addition, the seminar series and visitors program are first rate and provide excellent opportunities for interaction with other economists. Todd Keister, Cornell Money and Payments Studies Function

An Environment Where Ideas Flourish
The Research Group benefits greatly from the New York Fed’s proximity to top-tier universities. Over the past few years, the Group has cosponsored a number of conferences with institutions such as Columbia, Harvard, NYU, and Princeton. Fed economists frequently give seminars at these and other institutions.

The New York Fed offers an unusually collegial environment for young economists to develop their research. I don’t know of another institution that provides the same level of support–in the form of attention from senior colleagues, time for research, promotion of one’s work, access to high-level data sets, and the assistance of full-time research associates. Rebecca Hellerstein, UC Berkeley International Research Function

Teaching Activity
Economists also enjoy the opportunity to teach while on staff—whether they take a leave of absence from the Bank or teach part time while working here. Recent teaching activities include:

Tobias Adrian		Princeton; Seoul National University
Gauti Eggertsson		Yale
Stefano Eusepi		NYU
Andrea Ferrero		NYU
Michael Fleming		NYU
Linda Goldberg		Princeton
Andrew Haughwout		Princeton
Rebecca Hellerstein		NYU
James McAndrews		Pennsylvania
Donald Morgan		Columbia; NYU
Paolo Pesenti		NYU; Princeton; University of Oslo
Simon Potter		NYU
Til Schuermann		Columbia; Wharton
Andrea Tambalotti		Columbia; NYU
James Vickery		Princeton; NYU
Zhenyu Wang		Columbia
Tanju Yorulmazer		NYU

Economists looking for a dynamic and exciting work environment will be glad they joined the New York Fed. Each day brings new economic questions to answer and challenges to address, with potentially far-reaching implications. Ayşegül Şahin, University of Rochester Macroeconomic and Monetary Studies Function

Sabbatical Program
Our sabbatical program offers economists opportunities to concentrate fully on their own research. The program enables individuals pursuing a specific plan of study to devote up to 100 percent of their time to qualifying work.

Under the program, economists with four or more years of service at the Bank can apply to take between two and twelve months of leave. They receive 90 percent of their salary while on the first six months of leave and 75 percent during the next six months. Economists can also work part time while on sabbatical if the employment contributes to their professional development. For example, an economist can hold a visiting position at a university or other research institution, with limited teaching or other responsibilities.

Economists have taken advantage of the ­program to work at such institutions as the Bank of Portugal, Columbia University, and New York University.

The New York Fed is an ideal workplace for young economists who want to conduct academic research and gain valuable insight into economic policy decision-making processes and the workings of financial markets. The Bank provides excellent resources in the form of ample research time, computing facilities, and opportunities to interact with an outstanding group of colleagues and distinguished academic visitors. Emanuel Moench, Humboldt University, Berlin Capital Markets Function

Visiting Scholars Program
To help maintain a stimulating and supportive environment for staff economists, the Research Group regularly invites economists from major research institutions to be visiting scholars at the Bank. The visitors present their own work and make themselves available to discuss our economists’ current research.

Visiting scholars in 2008-09 include:

It’s a great experience working in the Research Group. You have the ability to put your own academic research to work, which stimulates participation in the policy debate and the development of new ideas. Argia Sbordone, Chicago Macroeconomic and Monetary Studies Function

A Gateway to Academia
The scope and seriousness of our research environment are reflected in our relationship with academia.

The Group has hired many of its more senior economists from university economics and finance faculties. In turn, a number of our economists have gone on to accept faculty positions at prestigious colleges and universities, including Boston College, Brandeis, Columbia, Dartmouth, New York University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Chicago, the University of Stockholm, and the University of Virginia.

Recent events on Wall Street will shape academic research and public policy on financial markets and institutions for decades. Economists joining the New York Fed can benefit from its unique mix of resources, experience, and opportunities, and potentially play a leadership role in policy and academia. Adam Ashcraft, MIT Financial Intermediation Function

Seminars
The Research Group actively encourages participation in seminars and conferences. Ample funds are available for economists to travel to conferences in the United States and abroad. The Bank also provides travel support for those wishing to work with coauthors outside the Bank.

In addition, we offer a seminar series that attracts a broad group of distinguished speakers. We present several seminars a week—a clear indication of our commitment to the series.

Selected seminars in 2008 include:

• “Product Quality and Trade with Homothetic Demand,” Francisco Alcala,
  New York University
• “Market Penetration Costs and Trade Dynamics,” Costas Arkolakis, Yale University
• “Constructing State and Metropolitan Area Price Levels,” Bettina Aten, Bureau of Economic Analysis
• “On the Need for a New Approach to Analyzing Monetary Policy,” Andrew Atkeson, University of California at Los Angeles
• “Bretton Woods and the Great Inflation,” Michael Bordo, Rutgers University
• “Finance and Development: A Tale of Two Sectors,” Francisco Buera, Northwestern University
• “Price Dispersion with Directed Search,” Gabriele Camera, University of Iowa
• “Inflation Targeting versus Price-Level-Path Targeting in the GEM: Some Open Economy Considerations,” Donald Coletti, René Lealonde, and Dirk Muir, Bank of Canada
• “Heterogeneity and Trade,” Arnaud Costinot, University of California at San Diego
• “Stock Market Insider Trading in Continuous Time with Dynamic Information,” Albina Danilova, University of Oxford
• “Tariff Cuts, Wages, and Firm Heterogeneity: Theory and Evidence,” Donald Davis, Columbia University (with Mary Amiti)
• “Tiebout Sorting and Inefficiency,” Dennis Epple, Carnegie Mellon University
• “Family Migration and Labor Market Outcomes,” Ahu Gemici, New York University
• “A Gap-Filling Theory of Corporate Debt Maturity Choice,” Robin Greenwood, Harvard University
• “Intermediary Asset Pricing,” Arvind Krishnamurthy, Northwestern University
• “Testing Efficient Risk Sharing with Heterogeneous Risk Preferences,” Maurizio Mazzocco, University of California at Los Angeles
• “Investment Cycles, Strategic Delay, and Self-Correcting Cascades,” James Peck, Ohio State University
• “Protection Reduction and Diversion: PTAs and the Incidence of Antidumping Disputes,” Thomas Prusa, Rutgers University
• “Identifying Government Spending Shocks: It’s All in the Timing,” Valerie Ramey, University of California at San Diego
• “Blissful Ignorance? Evidence from a Natural Experiment on the Effect of Individual Feedback on Performance,” Imran Rasul, University College London
• “Reference Prices and Nominal Rigidities,” Sergio Rebelo, Northwestern University
• “The Geography of Trade and Multinational Production,” Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, Pennsylvania State University
• “Fair-Value Accounting in Illiquid Markets,” Katherine Schipper, Duke University
• “Forecasting with Judgment and Models,” Francesca Monti, Université Libre de Bruxelles
• “Estimating the Demand for Credit Cards: A Regression Discontinuity Approach,” Wei Tan, State University of New York at Stony Brook
• “How Far Are We from the Slippery Slope? The Laffer Curve Revisited,” Harald Uhlig, University of Chicago
• “Wage Rigidity and Job Creation,” Thijs van Rens, Universitat Pompeu Fabra
• “A Preferred-Habitat Model of the Term Structure of Interest Rates,” Dimitri Vayanos, London School of Economics and Political Science
• “Analyzing a New Forecast Survey: The Bank of England Survey of External Forecasters,” Kenneth Wallis, University of Warwick
• “Using Labor Market Information to Identify Teacher Productivity,” Matthew Wiswall, New York University
• “How RePEc Measures the Impact of Economists’ Written Work,” Christian Zimmerman, University of Connecticut

The New York Fed is unique in its emphasis on academic research and policy research. Ample resources—including excellent computing support, the assistance of dedicated research associates, multiple seminar series, and a rich visitors program—provide an ideal research environment. In addition, the opportunities for relating academic research to practical policy and real-world applications make the experience here all the more exciting and fruitful.

Rajashri Chakrabarti, Cornell
Microeconomic and Regional Studies Function

Conferences
Over the past few years, the Research Group has hosted many well-received research conferences addressing a diverse set of topics, including systemic risk, disclosure requirements and market discipline of financial firms, monetary policy and the money market, policy options for affordable housing, and strategies for improving the measurement of economic and financial market performance.

The commitment to academic research at the Bank is outstanding.
This commitment is reflected in the amount of time economists can devote to pure research as well as in the numerous seminars, distinguished visiting professors, and exceptional colleagues here.

David Skeie, Princeton
Money and Payments Studies Function

A Rich Computing Environment
Economists can take advantage of the Research Group’s state-of-the-art computing environment and enjoy access to a broad spectrum of real and financial data sources.

The main elements of the computing infrastructure include:

• Two interconnected networks. The highly flexible Research Accessible Network (RAN) and the Bank’s highly secure internal network are available to economists. The RAN was designed for the exclusive use of researchers, our visitors, and external collaborators. It provides liberal access to outside resources, such as the Internet, while offering external collaborators and coauthors more convenient access to RAN resources from outside the Bank. The Bank’s network can be used to conduct confidential and classified policy work and provides access to Bankwide resources such as Federal Reserve System Intranet applications and websites.
• Robust data storage and backup solutions. An expandable terabytes storage area network platform allows for a range of data storage capabilities on the Bank’s network.
• A high-performance environment of Linux clusters. Roughly sixty processors enable parallel computing in Research, complemented by additional Linux servers on the Bank network as well as on the RAN.
• Convenient remote access. An array of automated tools are on hand to assist economists at home or abroad; BlackBerry devices are also available for mobile communication.
• Versatile workstation options. Desktop and laptop solutions can be combined to meet economists’ research needs; a dual-workstation option enables simultaneous access to the Bank network and the RAN.

Extensive Professional Support
A superb group of administrative, computer, editorial, and library professionals help economists meet their research objectives.

Joining this group of support personnel are roughly two dozen research associates, who offer skilled and energetic assistance in gathering data, conducting statistical analysis, and preparing materials for presentations.

Our RAs are typically recent college graduates who intend to pursue a Ph.D. in economics. Indeed, since 2001, twenty RAs have gone on to top-five Ph.D. programs while another twenty-four have entered top-twenty programs. Among this group, seven RAs have been awarded National Science Foundation fellowships.

With its emphasis on research and its breadth of supporting professionals, combined with its key role in formulating economic policy, the New York Fed provides a research setting like no other. It is a great place for economists to conduct independent research, derive new ideas from current policy issues, and see those ideas inform policymaking at the highest level.

Tanju Yorulmazer, NYU
Financial Intermediation Function

Wide Internet Exposure
Personal web pages on the New York Fed’s site heighten economists’ visibility in the academic, policy, and business communities.

The pages feature the economist’s biography and field of interest as well as links to curricula vitae, publications, and working papers. These are among the most visited pages on the Research Group’s website.

What has struck me most about my first year at the New York Fed is the extraordinary degree of intellectual excitement here. My colleagues work on the most challenging and topical policy issues and are eager to debate ideas. Stimulating seminars and presentations are offered nearly daily, and visitors from New York University, Princeton, and Columbia contribute richly to the discourse.

Marco Del Negro, Yale
Macroeconomic and Monetary Studies Function

Census Research Data Center
The Research Group, on behalf of the New York Fed, helped establish a U.S. Census Bureau Research Data Center in New York City. The Bank is a founding member of the consortium that supports the facility, joining other leading universities and research organizations in New York State.

The presence of the Research Data Center in the New York area supports an important strand of empirical research in the Bank and the region. At the Data Centers, researchers who have completed a rigorous project review process can access in a secure facility selected confidential economic and demographic microdata gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The New York Fed’s consortium membership entitles Research Group economists to use the facility to conduct research with no additional lab fees or the need to travel.