Influential economist and former U.S. Under Secretary for International Affairs, Professor John B. Taylor, appointed as MAS Term Professor at NUS
The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have jointly appointed Professor John B. Taylor, the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and the George P Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, as the MAS Term Professor in Economics and Finance from 18 to 25 May 2014. Prof Taylor will be hosted by the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences' Department of Economics, the NUS Business School, and the Economic Policy Group at the MAS during the term of the Professorship.
Prof Taylor has served with distinction in both academia and government. His fields of expertise are in macroeconomics, monetary economics, and international economics. Prof Taylor is often cited for his research on the foundations of modern monetary theory and policy -- he introduced the “Taylor rule”, a guideline for interest rate policy setting and forecasting, which is well-known among central banks and financial market analysts around the world.
He was a former member of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. Prof Taylor served as the Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for International Affairs, and was responsible for currency markets, trade in financial services, foreign investment, international debt and development, and oversight of the International Monetary Fund as well as the World Bank. He was also in charge of coordinating financial policy with the G-7 countries, and was chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) working party on international macroeconomics.
Professor Brenda Yeoh, Dean, NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said, “We are pleased to welcome Professor John B. Taylor to NUS. Prof Taylor is a world-renowned economist and esteemed academic, who has an illustrious career record and a great wealth of knowledge and experience in the field. We look forward to the sharing of knowledge and exchange of ideas in the coming weeks.”
Mr Edward Robinson, Assistant Managing Director (Economic Policy) and Chief Economist at MAS, welcomed John Taylor's appointment as the next MAS Term Professor, “Professor Taylor has made seminal contributions to our understanding of key monetary issues, ranging from his theoretical work on explaining rigidities in wage adjustments, to his intuitive framework for thinking about the response of monetary policy to inflation and output movements. It is a great opportunity and privilege for us to engage a distinguished scholar on issues of direct relevance to the MAS.
Prof Taylor will deliver a public lecture at NUS on 21 May 2014 titled “The Unintended Consequences of Policy in the Great Recession and the Weak Recovery”. He will also meet with NUS students, faculty members and government officials from various agencies. At the MAS, he will have discussions with senior policymakers and economists on developments in the global economy and financial markets as well as on a range of applied monetary policy issues.
First established in 2009, the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance is awarded to distinguished scholars, who are appointed as Visiting Professors at both the NUS Business School and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. It aims to strengthen Singapore's financial and economics research infrastructure and contribute to a vibrant research community and culture at local universities.
The MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance has been awarded to seven distinguished scholars over the last five years.
