The Brookings Papers on Economic Activity publishes research on current issues in macroeconomics, broadly defined. BPEA emphasizes innovative analysis that has an empirical orientation, takes real-world institutions seriously, and is relevant to economic policy. Papers are presented and discussed at conferences held twice each year, and the papers and discussant remarks from each conference are published in the journal several months later. Research findings are described in a clear and accessible style to maximize their impact on economic understanding and economic policymaking.
“The Brookings papers are either the most public policy-focused of all serious economics journal, or, among all public policy journals, it’s the most serious economic analysis.” —former co-editor Justin Wolfers
For example, a paper featured in the Fall 2009 edition, The Age of Reason: Financial Decisions over the Life Cycle and Implications for Regulation by Sumit Agarwal, John C. Driscoll, Xavier Gabaix and David Laibson, was awarded the 2010 TIAA-CREF Paul A. Samuelson Award for outstanding research containing ideas that the public and private sectors can use to maintain and improve America’s lifelong financial well being.
BPEA Co-Editors
The co-editors of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity are Janice C. Eberly and James H. Stock.
Janice C. Eberly is a nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution in Economic Studies and the James R. and Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance and former Chair of the Finance Department at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She served as the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the U.S. Treasury from 2011 to 2013; where she lead the Office of Economic Policy in analysis of the U.S. and global economies, financial markets, and development of policy recommendations on micro and macroeconomic issues. Eberly’s research focuses on finance and macroeconomics. Her work studies firms’ capital budgeting decisions and household consumption and portfolio choice. She also examines the interaction of these spending and investment choices with the macroeconomy. Her current research emphasizes household finance and wealth portfolios. Learn more »
James H. Stock is a nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution in Economic Studies and the Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and member of the faculty at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Stock served as Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2013-2014. Stock is a coauthor with Mark Watson of a leading introductory econometrics textbook and is a member of various professional boards. He previously served as Chair of the Harvard Economics Department from 2006-2009 and as Co-Editor of Econometrica from 2009-2012. Stock received a M.S. in statistics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Learn more »
Read press release about the co-editors »
NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING AUTHORS
In 2019, Michael Kremer won the Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences and became the 23rd Nobel Prize–winning economist to be an author or discussant for BPEA since the journal’s inception in 1970.
Read the complete list of those laureates and their contributions »
Contact BPEA
Submit your paper proposal to BPEA here.
If you have any questions about BPEA, please contact Mary King at [email protected].