Speaker Biographies

Steven J. Davis studies the effect of taxes on work activity, the creation and loss of jobs, the employment impact of wage-setting rules, and other labor market issues. He is a professor of international business and economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He previously taught at Brown University and MIT and served as a consultant and researcher at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. As a visiting scholar at AEI, Davis will study how tax differences in states and countries lead to differences in employment, household work, and leisure time.

Richard B. Freeman holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University. He is currently serving as Faculty Co-Chair of the Harvard University Trade Union Program. He is also director of the Labor Studies Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, co-director of the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance, and a visiting professor at the London School of Economics. He has published over 300 articles dealing with a wide range of research interests including the job market for scientists and engineers; the growth and decline of unions; the effects of immigration and trade on inequality; restructuring European welfare states; Chinese labor markets; transitional economies; youth labor market problems; crime; self-organizing non-unions in the labor market; employee involvement programs; and income distribution and equity in the marketplace. In addition, he has written or edited over twenty-five books, several of which have been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.

Kevin A. Hassett is the director of economic policy studies and a resident scholar at AEI. Before joining AEI, Mr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He was an economic adviser to the Bush campaign in the 2004 presidential election and was the chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) during the 2000 presidential primaries. He has also served as a policy consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury during both the former Bush and Clinton administrations. Mr. Hassett is a member of the Joint Committee on Taxation’s Dynamic Scoring Advisory Panel. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of six books on economics and economic policy, including the forthcoming Toward Fundamental Tax Reform (AEI Press). He has published scholarly articles in the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Public Economics, and many other professional journals. His popular writings have been published in the Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, USA Today, the Washington Post, and numerous other outlets. His economic commentaries are regularly aired on radio and television, including recent appearances on the Today Show, CBS’s Morning Show, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Hardball, Moneyline, and Power Lunch.

David E. Weinstein is the Carl S. Shoup Professor of the Japanese Economy and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Economics at Columbia. He is also the Associate Director of Research at the Center for Japanese Economy and Business, Research Associate and Director of the Japan Project at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, Professor Weinstein was a Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he continues to serve as a consultant. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, Professor Weinstein was the Sanford R. Robertson Associate Professor of Business Administration at the School of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, as well as an Associate Professor of economics at Harvard University. He also served on the Council of Economic Advisors from 1989 to 1990. His teaching and research interests include corporate finance, international trade, the Japanese economy, and industrial policy. Professor Weinstein has received numerous grants and awards, including three National Science Foundation grants, an Abe Fellowship, and a Japan Foundation Fellowship.

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