Lucia Smith Foster is the Chief of the

Center for Economic Studies The Center for Economic Studies (CES) is an independent institute within the Faculty of Economics of the University of Munich (LMU). It promotes the international exchange of knowledge and ideas in public finance and other areas of economics. CES ...

(CES) and the Chief Economist at the U.S Census Bureau in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

CES Researcher Profile
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Biography

Foster received a B.A. in economics from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 1983 and a Ph.D. in economics from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

in 1988. Foster worked as a research assistant at the Congressional Budget Office between 1983 and 1986, working on forecasts of the U.S. economy, and as an assistant economist at the

Federal Reserve Board The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, commonly known as the Federal Reserve Board, is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement the mo ...

during the years 1986–1990, working primarily on forecasts of U.S. international trade. Between 1986 and 1990, she worked at the

as an Assistant Economist working primarily on the forecast of U.S. international trade.NABE Luncheon
/ref>Spotlight on Commerce
/ref> Foster joined the Census Bureau as a research assistant in the Center for Economic Studies (CES) while she was completing her Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. She joined CES full time in 1998 after completion of her studies. In 2008, she became the CES Director of Research. She has served as the Chief Economist of the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

and Chief of the Center for Economic Studies (CES) since 2011. She is married to John Haltiwanger.

Work

As Chief Economist of the

, Foster is “responsible for identifying gaps in our understanding of the dynamic and complex U.S. economy and then finding ways to fill these gaps by working with our talented staff and outside experts in researching and developing new data products and improving and enhancing existing data production.” In her research, Foster uses Census microdata to research firm dynamics, productivity, and management practices.Google Scholar
/ref> Foster and a team of other researchers proposed and established the Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs, first fielded in 2014.2016 CES Research Report
/ref>ASE Working Paper
/ref> Foster was instrumental to the effort to have the Management and Organizational Practices Survey (MOPS) added as a supplement to the Annual Survey of Manufactures.
/ref> She is one of the key Census Bureau members of the Collaborative Micro-Productivity Project, a joint project with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which has created the public use dataset Dispersion Statistics on Productivity (DiSP)DiSP Paper
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Honors and awards

Commerce Department Gold Medal for Leadership
/ref> 2016 Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service – Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs 2010 Bronze Medal Award for Superior Federal Service – Decennial Analysis Team 2010-2011 CES Research Report
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Selected publications

*Foster, Lucia, John C. Haltiwanger, and Chad Syverson. 2016. "The Slow Growth of New Plants: Learning About Demand?" Economica, 83, 91–129. * Foster, Lucia and Patrice Norman. 2015. "The Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs: An Introduction." CES Working Paper. * Foster, Lucia, Cheryl Grim, and John Haltiwanger. 2016. "Reallocation in the Great Recession: Cleansing or Not?" Journal of Labor Economics, 34(S1): S293-S331. DOI:10.1086/682397 . * Foster, Lucia, Cheryl Grim, and John Haltiwanger. 2014. "Reallocation in the Great Recession: Cleansing or Not?" NBER Working Paper, No. 20427 (Prior version Center for Economic Studies Discussion Paper, 13–42). * Foster, Lucia, John C. Haltiwanger, Shawn D. Klimek, C.J. Krizan, and Scott Ohlmacher. 2016. "The Evolution of National Retail Chains: How We Got Here." In Handbook on the Economics of Retailing and Distribution, ed. Emek Basker (ed.), 7-37. * Buffington, Cathy, Lucia Foster, Ron Jarmin, and Scott Ohlmacher. 2016. "The Management and Organizational Practices Survey (MOPS): An Overview." Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, 42(1). * Bloom, Nick, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lucia Foster, Ron Jarmin, and Itay Saporta-Eksten. 2013. "Management in America." Center for Economic Studies Working Paper, No. 13-01. * Foster, Lucia, Cheryl Grim, and John Haltiwanger. 2013. "Reallocation in the Great Recession: Cleansing or Not?" Center for Economic Studies Discussion Paper Series, No. 13-42. * Foster, Lucia, John Haltiwanger, and Chad Syverson. 2012. "The Slow Growth of New Plants: Learning about Demand?" Center for Economic Studies Working Paper, No. 12-06. * Foster, Lucia and Cheryl Grim. 2010. "Characteristics of the Top R&D Performing Firms in the U.S.: Evidence from the Survey of Industrial R&D." Center for Economic Studies Discussion Paper, 10–33. * Foster, Lucia, Ron Jarmin, and Lynn Riggs. 2010. "Resolving the Tension between Access and Confidentiality: Past Experience and Future Plans at the U.S. Census Bureau." Statistical Journal of the IAOS: Journal of the International Association for Official Statistics, Vol. 26 (3–4). * Foster, Lucia, John Haltiwanger, and Chad Syverson. 2008. "Reallocation, Firm Turnover, and Efficiency: Selection on Productivity or Profitability?" American Economic Review, No. 98(1), 394–425. * Foster, Lucia, C.J. Krizan, Kristin Fairman, and Ian Rucker. 2008. "An Analysis of Key Difference in Micro Data: Results from the Business List Comparison Project." American Statistical Association, Business and Economics Statistics Section (CD-ROM). * Foster, Lucia, John Haltiwanger, and Namsuk Kim. 2006. "Gross Job Flows for the U.S. Manufacturing Sector, 1973-1998." Center Economic Studies, WP No. 08-28. * Foster, Lucia, C.J. Krizan, David Talan, and Joel Elvery. 2006. "Preliminary Micro Data Results from the Business List Comparison Project." Proceedings of the American Statical Associations, Business and Economics Statistics Section (CD-ROM). * Foster, Lucia, C.J. Krizan, and John Haltiwanger. 2006. "Market Selection, Reallocation, and Restructuring in the U.S. Retail Trade Sector in the 1990s." Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 88, No. 4, Pages 748–758.

References

External links

Google ScholarCES Researcher Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Lucia United States Census Bureau people Year of birth missing (living people) Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni Federal Reserve economists Place of birth missing (living people) University of Maryland, College Park alumni Living people 21st-century American economists