The Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance (JRC) is a leading

research center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricit ...

at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

. Founded in 2011, the JRC primarily promotes research on

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...

as it relates to

financial markets A financial market is a market in which people trade financial securities and derivatives at low transaction costs. Some of the securities include stocks and bonds, raw materials and precious metals, which are known in the financial ma ...

and

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

. The center has also expanded its research and teaching to multiple disciplines, including

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

operations research Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, and

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

History

Founding

In April 2011, Mitch Julis, a Princeton alum and current partner of Canyon Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles-based

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...

, made a gift of $10 million to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. His funds were used to create a center that sought to analyze and improve the nation's financial and public policies. Named for Julis’ parents, the Julis-Rabinowitz Center began its operations in the 2011-2012 academic year, and has since maintained close relations with the School of Public and International Affairs, the

Bendheim Center for Finance Bendheim Center for Finance (BCF) is an interdisciplinary center at Princeton University. It was established in 1997 at the initiative of Ben Bernanke and is dedicated to research and education in the area of money and finance, in lieu of there not ...

, and the

Princeton University Department of Economics The Princeton University Department of Economics is an academic department of Princeton University, an Ivy League institution in Princeton, New Jersey. The department is one of the most premier institutions for the study of economics. It offers ...

Christina Paxson Christina Hull Paxson (born February 6, 1960) is an American economist and public health expert serving as the 19th president of Brown University. Previously, she was the Hughes Rogers Professor of Economics & Public Affairs at Princeton Univers ...

, former dean of the

Princeton School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

and current president of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

helped to establish the organization which aimed to increase opportunities for research and teaching. The center was originally located at Princeton's Frick Chemistry Laboratory. In 2017, the JRC moved to its permanent location at the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building.

Organizational structure

The current director of the JRC is the John H. Laporte, Jr. Class of 1967 Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Finance Atif R. Mian. Professor Mian holds a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of th ...

. Much of his research focuses on finance and macroeconomy, analyzing housing trends, mortgage data, and the

2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of ...

. His research has been cited in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', and the ''

Economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

''. The JRC is also supported by an External Advisory Council, which includes Robert A. Johnson at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), Philip Bennett at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Joyce Chang at JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Research

The goal of the JRC is to provide opportunities for research at the intersection of public policy and finance through its events, workshops, and initiatives. The research conducted at the JRC has been published in numerous news outlets, including '' Barron's'', ''

MarketWatch MarketWatch is a website that provides financial information, business news, analysis, and stock market data. Along with ''The Wall Street Journal'' and '' Barron's'', it is a subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company, a property of News Corp. Histo ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', and ''

Institutional Investor An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked ...

''.

Scholars

Its scholars include a wide array of economists, political scientists, historians, and industry experts. Professors associated with the JRC have won a number of prestigious and international awards, including the Clark Medal (

Yuliy Sannikov Yuliy Sannikov (born November 3, 1978) is a Ukrainian economist known for his contributions to mathematical economics, game theory, and corporate finance. He is an economics professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and won both th ...

, 2016), the Moynihan Prize ( Alan Krueger, 2016), and the Bipartisan Health Policy Leadership Award from the National Alliance of Health Policy (

Uwe Reinhardt Uwe Ernst Reinhardt (September 24, 1937 – November 14, 2017) was a professor of political economy at Princeton University and held several positions in the healthcare industry. Reinhardt was a prominent scholar in health care economics and a fr ...

, 2017). The center also is home to Alan Krueger, the former

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy is the head of the Office of Economic Policy in the United States Department of the Treasury. The position is held by Ben Harris. President Joe Biden announced he would nominate Ben Ha ...

; Alan Blinder, a former member of the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical rese ...

and Vice Chairman of the

Federal Reserve System The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after ...

;

Markus Brunnermeier Markus Konrad Brunnermeier (born March 22, 1969) is an economist, who is the Edwards S. Sanford Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. He is a facult ...

, Research Fellow at the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work th ...

; Harold James, the current Historian at the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster glo ...

; and

Cecilia Rouse Cecilia Elena Rouse ( ; born December18, 1963) is an American economist who has served as the 30th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers since March 2021. She is the first Black American to hold this position. Prior to this, she served as t ...

, a former member of the

and current Dean of the

. The JRC is also home to a number of External Advisory Council members who work in government, industry, and academia.

Projects

Washington Center Grant

Atif Mian, Director of the JRC and Professor of Economics and of Public Affairs, runs the Washington Center Grant research project. Using household data at the county-level, he seeks to describe the role of household debt in the

. In 2014, he published his findings in '' House of Debt'' with Amir Sufi, at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Because of his research, Mian has been named one of the International Monetary Fund's "top 25 bright, young economists."

Macro, Money and Finance

The Princeton Initiative: Macro, Money and Finance organizes an annual meeting for students to discuss trends in modern finance and macroeconomic models in the context of financial crises. The program is organized by

, Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and

, Professor of Economics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

Economics of Insurance Workshop

In June 2018, the JRC organized the inaugural financial economics of

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

workshop. Organized by Motohiro Yogo (Princeton) and Ralph S. Koijen (

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

), the workshop focuses on the importance of the insurance sector in understanding market incentives, pricing, and asset allocation. The project is funded by the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

and the

Partnerships

The JRC currently leads a partnership with the African School of Economics (ASE). Since 2016, the JRC and the ASE have engaged in collaborative research and numerous training initiatives, as well as a new visiting scholar program.

Annual Conference

The JRC's annual conference is co-hosted with

Microsoft Research Microsoft Research (MSR) is the research subsidiary of Microsoft. It was created in 1991 by Richard Rashid, Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold with the intent to advance state-of-the-art computing and solve difficult world problems through technolog ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It aims to bring together researchers, policy experts, and market practitioners to discuss some of the most pressing economic issues in the current world. Past topics including "Escalating Risks: China's Economy, Society and Financial System" and "The Future of Globalization: Trade, Finance and Politics." Some past keynote speakers include

Lawrence H. Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

; Robert Hall of

;

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American economist, who is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a columnist for ''The New York Times''. In 2008, Krugman was t ...

; and

Benoît Cœuré Benoît Georges Cœuré (; born 17 March 1969) is a French economist who has been serving as President of the ''Autorité de la concurence'' since 2022. He previously served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2 ...

of the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

Academics

The JRC trains a cohort of undergraduate and graduate associates can conduct research with faculty and network with professionals in the financial-services industry. Past associates have been named

Rhodes Scholars The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

and

Schwarzman Scholars Schwarzman Scholars (), founded by American financier Stephen A. Schwarzman, is an international postgraduate award program for students to study at Tsinghua University. Awards are made to 100–200 applicants per year, worldwide. The program s ...

. Undergraduate students at Princeton are able to apply for an Undergraduate Certificate in Finance (UCF) with a Public Policy and Finance Track. This program is co-directed by the JRC and the

. It requires students to take relevant courses in a number of fields, such as public finance and the history of financial crises. Graduate students are able to take intensive courses sponsored by the JRC. They may also take part in the ''Princeton Initiative: Macro, Money and Finance'', a program for students looking to further develop their modeling skills and financial knowledge.

References

External links

*
JRC on Facebook

JRC on Youtube
{{authority control Princeton University Research institutes in New Jersey Educational institutions established in 2011 Economic research institutes 2011 establishments in New Jersey