Money-Rx Blog

Prof. Greg Mankiw (DOB: February 3, 1958) is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University, where he teaches introductory economics, among other courses. He joined Harvard in 1985 as an Assistant Professor, and since 1987 has been a Professor. Before that he was an Instructer at MIT from 1984 to 1985.

He has also been an NBER research associate, advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Congressional Budget Office, and was Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005.

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Education:
A.B., summa cum laude in economics, Princeton University, 1980
Ph.D., Department of Economics, M.I.T., 1984.

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Books: Prof. Mankiw is the author of two textbooks, Principles of Economics, 4th edition, 2007, Thomson Southwestern and Macroeconomics, 6th edition, 2007, Worth Publishers

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Research and Publications: Research areas include price adjustment, consumer behavior, financial markets, monetary and fiscal policy, and economic growth. His articles have appeared in both academic and news media publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. His published papers include 'The Growth of Nations' (Brookings Papers on Economic Activity) and a 'Letter to Bernanke' which was published immediately after President Bush appointed him to replace the outgoing Alan Greenspan. A notable fact regarding Bernanke's appointment is that he was not the favored choice amongst supporters of supply-side economics, who form the core of the President's economic policy and political advisors. It was at the urging of Prof. Mankiw that President Bush decided in favor of Bernanke.

Another area of interest for Prof. Mankiw is the application of economic policy to impact global warming. On Sept 16th, he wrote an article for the New York Times which discusses a global carbon tax. "The scientists tell us that world temperatures are rising because humans are emitting carbon into the atmosphere. Basic economics tells us that when you tax something, you normally get less of it. So if we want to reduce global emissions of carbon, we need a global carbon tax. Q.E.D.

The British economist Arthur Pigou advocated such corrective taxes to deal with pollution in the early 20th century. In his honor, economics textbooks now call them “Pigovian taxes.”
Using a Pigovian tax to address global warming is also an old idea. It was proposed as far back as 1992 by Martin S. Feldstein on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal"

Prof. Mankiw also founded the 'Pigou Club' , an elite group of pundits and policy wonks who advocate higher Pigovian taxes, whose members include former VP Al Gore, NYT op-ed columnist Paul Krugman and Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer.

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Opinion: In addition to his courses, research, advisory positions and publications, Prof. Mankiw is also a prolific blogger, and his blog for students of economics (http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/) is well frequented and highly popular among his current and former students. Note: When asked by this blogger if he has any comment regarding Bernanke and the Fed's role, Prof. Mankiw replied that if he had any comments, he would rather put them on his own blog.

His opinion and papers probably carry more weight due to his extensive involvement in the political and policy sectors of the federal government. He has first hand experience of the political and bureaucratic requirements to turn a proposition, or research paper, into actual policy. There was a small kerfuffle within academic and blogging circles when Prof. Mankiw was accused of changing his views on the Bush Administration's tax cuts.

Prof. Mankiw is currently a principal economic adviser to the Presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney - Which is not suprising considering his expertise in international economics, the politics of economics and his geographic proximity to Romney's backyard - Prof. Mankiw lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with his wife and three children.

References:

http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/mankiw/mankiw.html
http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=gregory+mankiw
http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/
http://www.amazon.com/s?&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=N.%20Gregory%20Mankiw