Kristin J. Forbes

curriculum vitae

Support Staff

Channa Yem

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About

Academic Groups

Global Economics and Management

Academic Area

Behavioral and Policy Sciences

Kristin Forbes is the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Professor of Management and Global Economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

In 2014 she also became an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee for the Bank of England. This dual role continues her tradition of combining academics with senior policy positions. From 2003 to 2005 Forbes served as a Member of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, where she was the youngest person to ever hold this position. From 2001-2002 she worked in the U.S. Treasury Department as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Quantitative Policy Analysis, Latin American and Caribbean Nations. She also was a member of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers for the State of Massachusetts from 2009-2014.

Forbes was recently honored as one of the top 25 economists under the age of 45 who are “shaping how we think about the global economy” and in 2015 received a Bicentennial Medal from Williams College. She was previously named as a "Young Global Leader" as part of the World Economic Forum at Davos. Forbes is currently a research associate at the NBER, and a member of the Bellagio Group and Council on Foreign Relations.

Forbes’ academic research addresses policy-related questions in international macroeconomics. Recent projects include work on capital flows, financial crises, contagion, exchange rates, capital controls, macroprudential regulation, foreign investment, and tax holidays. Forbes has chaired research projects on the Global Financial Crisis, Global Linkages and International Financial Contagion. She has won numerous teaching awards and teaches one of the most popular classes at MIT's Sloan School.

Before joining MIT, Forbes worked at the World Bank and Morgan Stanley. She graduated summa cum laude from Williams College with a BA in economics and received her PhD in economics from MIT.

Honors

Queen Elizabeth bestows Forbes with Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Kristin Forbes has been named an Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to the British economy (recognizing Forbes’ outstanding service contributions from 2014 to 2017 as an External Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England). Appointments to The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire reward contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organizations, and public service. A CBE is among the most prestigious honors bestowed in the United Kingdom (after the highest, Knight or Dame). Awards given to non-UK citizens are “honorary.” Recipients of the award traditionally receive the insignia of the Order in London at Buckingham Palace, in an Investiture ceremony presided over by Queen Elizabeth II (or her designate, such as the Prince of Wales).

Kristin Forbes receives Bicentennial Medal

Kristin Forbes has been named a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations

Kristin Forbes has been named as a member of the Governor's Council of Economic Advisors

Kristin Forbes was recently selected to be a member of the Trilateral Commission

Kristin Forbes and Simon Johnson have recently been appointed to the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers

Kristin Forbes and Simon Johnson have recently been appointed to the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers. The Congressional Budget Office is the non-partisan organization that provides the formal analysis for Congress -- most importantly the estimates of the costs of different proposals that are then used as inputs for proposed legislation and the Congressional budget process.