Bernanke Speaks at NBER's Summer Institute

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spoke to the NBER's Summer Institute in Cambridge on July 10. Bernanke, formerly an academic himself who taught at Princeton, was an NBER Research Associate from 1994 to 2002, and served as Director of the NBER's Monetary Economics Program, began his remarks by noting: "The informal nature of the NBER Summer Institute, the large number of talented people in attendance, and the opportunity to hear about the very latest work in the field - often while in early draft form - made these few weeks each summer one of the most stimulating times of the year for me. In my current position, I am keenly aware of the long history of fruitful interaction between economists inside and outside of central banks, and I am eager to see this interaction continue. This ongoing intellectual exchange, by improving our understanding of the economy and the workings of monetary policy, has had and will continue to have sizable benefits."

Finkelstein is 2007/8 Griliches Fellow

Amy N. Finkelstein, an NBER Faculty Research Fellow in the Public Economics, Aging, and Health Care Programs and an associate professor of economics at MIT, has been selected to receive the Zvi Griliches Fellowship at the NBER for the academic year 2007/8. This fellowship, which is awarded every two years, was created and funded by friends and colleagues of Professor Griliches to honor his memory and his tradition of mentoring young empirical economists.

Finkelstein's research is directed toward market failures and government intervention in insurance markets, and the impact of public policy on the health care sector, particularly on the development and diffusion of medical technology. She plans to spend her fellowship year at the NBER's Cambridge office studying the costs and benefits of offering choice within social insurance programs, and the determinants of rising health care spending.

Finkelstein received her A.B. in government from Harvard University and her Ph.D. in Economics from MIT.