Robert Barro

Influential Economics Professor at Harvard University 

Robert Barro, one of the world’s foremost economists, is an influential thinker on fiscal stability and government policy. He is an especially valuable speaker for financial and business organizations.

Renowned Economist

Robert J. Barro is widely respected for his insights into the role of the government and private markets in the current recession, and the behavior of the Federal Reserve. His views on the federal stimulus package, financial regulation, the troubles besetting the European Union, and the intensifying competition with Asia often appear in the Wall Street Journal, where he served as contributing editor, the Economist, Bloomberg, and Business Week, where he has been a viewpoint columnist.

Institutions

Robert J. Barro is Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Affiliations

Dr. Barro is co-editor of Harvard’s Quarterly Journal of Economics and was recently President of the Western Economic Association and Vice President of the American Economic Association.

Publications

Robert Barro was a viewpoint columnist for Business Week from 1998 to 2006 and a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1991 to 1998. He has written extensively on macroeconomics and economic growth. Noteworthy research includes empirical determinants of economic growth, economic effects of public debt and budget deficits, and the formation of monetary policy.

Books

His recent books include Macroeconomics: A Modern Approach, Economic Growth (2nd edition, written with Xavier Sala-i-Martin), Nothing Is Sacred: Economic Ideas for the New Millennium, Determinants of Economic Growth, and Getting It Right: Markets and Choices in a Free Society.

Current Research

Dr. Barro’s current research focuses on two very different topics: the interplay between religion and political economy and the impact of rare disasters on asset markets and macroeconomic activity.

Education

Robert Barro has a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.S. in physics from Caltech.