John B. Taylor

George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics
Awards and Honors:
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Econometric Society (elected fellow)
Economics Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award
(2015)
Biography: 

John B. Taylor is the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution and the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He chairs the Hoover Working Group on Economic Policy and is director of Stanford’s Introductory Economics Center.

Taylor's fields of expertise are monetary policy, fiscal policy, and international economics. His book Getting Off Track was one of the first on the financial crisis; his latest book, First Principles, for which he received the 2012 Hayek Prize, develops an economic plan to restore America’s prosperity.

Taylor served as senior economist on President Ford's and President Carter’s Council of Economic Advisers, as a member of President George H. W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, and as a senior economic adviser to Bob Dole’s presidential campaign, to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in 2000, and to John McCain’s presidential campaign. He was a member of the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 2001. From 2001 to 2005, Taylor served as undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs where he was responsible for currency markets, international development, for oversight of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and for coordinating policy with the G-7 and G-20.

Taylor received the Bradley Prize from the Bradley Foundation and the Adam Smith Award as well as the Adolph G. Abramson Award from the National Association for Business Economics. He was awarded the Alexander Hamilton Award for his overall leadership at the US Treasury, the Treasury Distinguished Service Award for designing and implementing the currency reforms in Iraq, and the Medal of the Republic of Uruguay for his work in resolving the 2002 financial crisis. At Stanford he was awarded the George P. Shultz Distinguished Public Service Award, as well as the Hoagland Prize and the Rhodes Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society; he formerly served as vice president of the American Economic Association.

Taylor formerly held positions as professor of economics at Princeton University and Columbia University. Taylor received a BA in economics summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1968 and a PhD in economics from Stanford University in 1973.

Filter By:

Topic

Type

Recent Commentary

Featured

A Firm Conclusion About The Role Of Fed Leading Up To The Crisis

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Monday, February 22, 2016

Matthew Klein recently wrote a nice piece for the Financial Times on the role of the Fed in the asset price bubble in 2003-2005 and thereby in the subsequent bust leading to the financial crisis. He begins by reviewing a fascinating speech by Tim Lane, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada. 

Analysis and Commentary

Economists State Why Policy Rules Legislation Is Needed

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Recent policy rules legislation introduced in the House and Senate has attracted much attention—including in op-eds, blog posts, tweets, editorials, speeches, research papers, conferences and Congressional testimony over the past few years. A particular version of this legislation passed the full House of Representatives on November 19, 2015. 

Blank Section (Placeholder)

Avoiding Greece’s Mistakes—While We Still Can

by John B. Taylorvia Hoover Digest
Wednesday, January 27, 2016

The United States can avoid the errors that savaged the Greek economy, but only if Washington makes a concerted effort to do so.

Featured

The Economic Hokum Of Secular Stagnation Redux

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Sunday, January 24, 2016

Two years ago I published a piece in the Wall Street Journal titled The Economic Hokum of ‘Secular Stagnation.’ I wrote it after Larry Summers presented the secular stagnation view at a joint Brookings-Hoover conference.

Analysis and Commentary

Trying Out A New Video On The Power Of Markets

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Friday, January 15, 2016

I always enjoy teaching the introductory economics class—we call it Econ 1 at Stanford— and I’m teaching the course again this winter. Part of the fun is trying out new teaching ideas. 

Featured

Economics In Central Banking: John Taylor

by John B. Taylorvia Central Banking
Thursday, January 14, 2016

The global monetary system has proven an unstable place in the years after 2008. Advanced economy central banks have pumped liquidity into the system via unprecedented programmes of monetary easing, possibly averting a second Great Depression but unbalancing the system and driving violent capital flows into vulnerable economies.

Analysis and Commentary

An Economic Policy–Performance Cycle

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Monday, January 11, 2016

For several years I have writing about an cycle in which economic policy swings toward and away from certain key principles of economic freedom. The poor performance of the U.S. economy during the past decade —the Great Recession, the Not-So-Great Recovery, the stagnation of real income growth—can be traced to a Great Deviation from these principles, or, as John Cochrane writes, to an Era of Great Forgetting of what policy works well.

Analysis and Commentary

Listen To The Economic Experts

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Thursday, December 24, 2015

Each year I look forward to reading the Annual Report of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers which endeavors to explain the economy and policy from the perspective of the current Administration; my interest may have been piqued from working on Reports in the ’70s and ’90s.

Featured

Ideas And Action: A Rules-Based Deal For The IMF

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Thursday, December 17, 2015

Several months ago in Congressional testimony, in a Wall Street Journal article, in meetings with public officials, and in a post on Economics One, I suggested the idea that “There is room for a deal” on an important IMF reform that had been internationally pending for years, explaining that: “Treasury wants Congress to raise the U.S. contribution to the IMF, but Congress is reluctant to do so with no framework limiting IMF lending.

Analysis and Commentary

Learning From Experiences In International Economic Policy

by John B. Taylorvia Economics One
Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Last week we had a wonderful symposium in celebration of George Shultz’s 95th birthday. Many of George’s friends and colleagues spoke on the theme “Learning from Experience” in economic policy, security policy, social cohesion, and politics.

Pages