Political Economy Program Director Transition

From: James Poterba <poterba_at_nber.org>
Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2020 16:49:45 -0400

Dear Political Economy Program Members -

Alberto Alesina's untimely passing leaves an enormous gap in the
economics profession, the political economy research community, and the
NBER Political Economy Program.  Alberto shaped the program from its
inception, and his influence on the nature and direction of research
will be very durable.  He selected papers on interesting and important
topics to feature at conferences, he encouraged and supported emerging
research topics as well as emerging researchers, and he led by example
in carrying out his own high-impact research agenda.  We will miss him
deeply.

At the start of this year, Alberto invited Gerard Padró i Miquel and
Jesse Shapiro to serve on the program's steering committee, which helps
review candidates for NBER affiliation, and to organize the Fall 2020
program meeting.  I have asked them to take on the additional
responsibility of convening the July 2020 Summer Institute meeting, for
which Alberto had already selected the papers.  That meeting is
scheduled for July 13-14.  I hope that we will be able to include a
tribute to Alberto as part of that meeting; I will write again with
further details.

In the next few weeks, I will reach out to a number of program members
to solicit advice on selecting the next program director. Please do not
hesitate to contact me and to share your views about what made Alberto's
leadership so successful, the attributes you view as most important for
his successor to possess, and the most exciting directions of current
research within the field of political economy.  I also welcome
suggestions regarding candidates who would be well suited to the program
director role.

I look forward to your input and to seeing you at the virtual Summer
Institute.  All best wishes.

Jim Poterba
Received on Mon Jun 01 2020 - 17:32:34 EDT