Dan Sichel Professor of Economics, Wellesley College
Research interests include macroeconomics, long-run growth, and technology.
I came to Wellesley from the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. At the Fed, I was part of the senior management team for a group with over 300 staff that provides analytic support to Chairman Bernanke, other members of the Federal Reserve Board, and the FOMC. I worked on a range of macroeconomic issues, including helping to guide the Fed’s forecast and analysis of the U.S. economy. I also served as assistant to the chair of the Airline Transportation Stabilization Board, established by Congress to provide loan guarantees to airlines that suffered losses as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
I went to the Federal Reserve in 1988 after earning a Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton University. I remained at the Fed until 1993, when I joined the Brookings Institution as a Research Associate and while there authored a book— The Computer Revolution —that analyzed the relationship between information technology and economic growth. In 1995, I was appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomic Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department and then returned to the Fed in 1996 until coming to Wellesley in 2011. I received a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan in 1983.
My research interests and publications are in macroeconomics, productivity and economic growth, technology, and economic measurement. I’m also a member of the Executive Committee of the Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, a group administered by the National Bureau of Economic Research that brings together academics and practitioners working on economic measurement. I am excited about bringing my policy experience and research background to the classroom at Wellesley.
