Jeffrey A. Frankel

Jeffrey A. Frankel is the James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Frankel earned his economics doctorate from MIT and has held academic positions at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard. He serves as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he directs the Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics and co-directs the annual NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics. Frankel has held visiting appointments at the Federal Reserve, the International Monetary Fund, and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, contributing to international macroeconomics and global economic policy.

Frankel's research covers currencies, commodities, financial crises, monetary and fiscal policy, regional trade blocs, and international environmental economics. His influential papers include "Does Trade Cause Growth?" (with David Romer) and "The Endogeneity of the Optimum Currency Area Criteria" (with Andrew Rose), which have shaped the understanding of trade, economic growth, and currency unions. Frankel's books include "On Exchange Rates," a collection of essays on the international monetary system, and "American Economic Policy in the 1990s" (co-edited with Peter Orszag), which received a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Book Award. He has also co-authored "Does Foreign Exchange Intervention Work?" and "Regional Trading Blocs in the World Economic System," among other publications. Frankel is recognized among the most-cited economists globally, with research impacting both academic economics and policy.

Frankel has served on the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers, focusing on international economics, macroeconomics, and environmental policy. He was a member of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee, which determines official U.S. recession dates, and has served on the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mauritius. Frankel has advised organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities. He has delivered the Mundell-Fleming Lecture at the International Monetary Fund and the Graham Lecture at Princeton University.

Frankel writes a monthly column for Project Syndicate and has contributed to The Guardian, Barron's, The Washington Post, and other publications, addressing topics including tariff policy, Federal Reserve independence, recession forecasting, and climate economics. He has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg, NPR, BBC, NBC News, and CBS News, providing economic analysis to broad audiences. Frankel's Harvard blog and public commentary have established him as a resource for journalists and policymakers on issues such as U.S. debt and the geopolitics of the dollar. His work spans academia, government, and public discourse in international macroeconomics and economic policy.