Biography
Karen Dynan – March 16 education session
Professor of the Practice in the Department of Economics
Harvard University
Karen Dynan is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Economics at Harvard University. She served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the US Department of the Treasury from 214 to 217, leading analysis of economic conditions and development of policies to address the nation’s economic challenges. From 29 to 213, she was Vice President and Co-director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution.
Before that, she was on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board for 17 years, playing a leadership role in a number of areas, including macroeconomic forecasting, household finances, and the Fed’s response to the financial crisis. Karen also served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 23 to 24 and as a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in 1998. Dynan teaches in the Harvard Economics Department and at the Harvard Kennedy School; she is also currently a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
Karen’s research focuses on fiscal and other types of macroeconomic policy, consumer behavior, and household finances. She received her PhD in economics from Harvard University and her AB from Brown University.