Gerald Epstein

Gerald Epstein received his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University, and is Professor of Economics and a founding Co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI). He has published widely on a variety of progressive economic policy issues, especially in the areas of central banking and international finance. He is the author, most recently, of The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance (Edward Elgar Press, 2019), and What's Wrong with Modern Money Theory? A Policy Critique (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019). Epstein is also the editor or co-editor of many books, including The Political Economy of International Finance in an Age of Inequality: Soft Currencies, Hard Landings (Edward Elgar Press, 2018), The Handbook of the Political Economy of Financial Crises (with Martin H. Wolfson, Oxford University Press, 2013), and Financialization and the World Economy (Edward Elgar Press, 2004). He is also a long-time member of the Center for Popular Economics.

Professional Experience: 

• Co-Director, Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), UMass Amherst, 1998-Present
• Chair, Department of Economics, UMass Amherst, 1997-2001, 2009-2011
• Professor of Economics, UMass Amherst, 1996-Present
• Visiting Scholar, Universite Paris XIII, Paris, France, September, 2008-July, 2009
• External Examiner, Economics Department, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2001-2009
• Visiting Scholar, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, People’s Republic of China, 2000-2001
• Visiting Professor, Bologna Center of the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, Bologna, Italy, 1992-1993
• Assistant Professor of Economics, Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, 1983-1987
• Assistant Professor of Economics, Williams College, 1979-1983

Research Interests: 

• Macroeconomic policy, central banking and international finance

Grants: 

• Cummings Foundation Grant to PERI, 2009-2010
• Ford Foundation Grant to the Political Economy Research Institute, 1999-2001, 2004-2006
• Economic Policy Institute, 1995-1997, project on Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy
• World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University, 1985-1993

Selected Publications: 

• Beyond Inflation Targeting: Monetary Policy For Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction. Eds. Gerald Epstein and Erinc Yeldan. Northampton: E. Elgar Press, 2010.
• Gerald Epstein, ed. Financialization and the World Economy. Northampton: Edward Elgar Press, 2005.
• Avoiding a Financial Meltdown, Challenge Magazine, January/February, 2009. (with James Crotty).
• An Employment Targeted Central Bank Policy for South Africa, International Review of Applied Economics, March, 2008, Vol. 22 No. 2.
• Should Capital Flows be Controlled? Yes. In, Reforming the International Financial System for Development: Lessons from the current and recent financial crises in developing countries. Edited by Jomo Kwame Sundaram published by G24. Washington, DC: October 2009 (Co-published by Orient Blackswan, Hyderabad, and Columbia University Press, New York, in 2010.)

https://www.geraldaepstein.com/