James M. Poterba ’80, a professor at MIT and current NBER president, says his interest in academic economics was first sparked when he worked with Feldstein as a research assistant the summer after his sophomore year of college.
Liebman, for whom Feldstein served as dissertation advisor and who now co-teaches Economics 1420: “American Economic Policy” with Feldstein, says that Feldstein inspires his students to “get out into the real world and figure out what is really going on, rather than hiding behind models and regression results.”
When Liebman was struggling to understand seemingly inconsistent results about the Earned Income Tax Credit, “Marty said, ‘Jeff, you aren’t studying fish. You can go out and talk to people,’” Liebman says. Acting on Feldstein’s advice, Liebman conducted field research and ultimately solved the puzzle.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Feldstein has also had an enormous impact on the academic field of economics.
“He’s really one of the great men of economic policy,” Mankiw says. “There’s no question in anyone’s mind that he’s one of the stars of economics.”
Feldstein’s research focuses on issues of macroeconomics in the public sector, especially taxation and social insurance.
Feldstein is famous for his analysis of social welfare systems, which won him the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal in 1977, an award that goes to an economist under 40 judged to have made significant contributions to the field.
Over his career, Feldstein has penned over 300 articles, making him one of the most prolific economists in the world.
And Feldstein is often listed among those likely to win the Nobel Prize in economics in a given year.
“From my perspective he’d be a very plausible choice,” Mankiw says.
Feldstein has also played a significant role in encouraging the research of other economists as former president of the NBER, a nonprofit economic think tank based in Cambridge that gathers researchers together and sponsors academic articles.
“Marty had a transformative effect on the NBER,” Poterba says. “Under Marty’s leadership, the NBER had an enormous influence in promoting the expansion of empirical economic research, and in encouraging economists to carry out research on topics that would provide valuable input for policymakers.”
Additionally, Feldstein has worked in the government helping to implement policy, most notably as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Reagan, but also as an adviser to nearly every president since.
In 2005, when President George W. Bush was choosing Alan Greenspan’s replacement as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Feldstein was considered one of the two top contenders, ultimately losing out to current chairman Ben S. Bernanke ’75.
—Staff writer Benjamin M. Scuderi can be reached at bscuderi@college.harvard.edu.