Susan Helper is an American economist. She is the Frank Tracy Carlton Professor of

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

Weatherhead School of Management The Weatherhead School of Management is a private business school of Case Western Reserve University located in Cleveland, Ohio. Weatherhead offers programs concentrated in sustainability, design innovation, healthcare, organizational behavior, gl ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Education

Helper received a Bachelors of Arts in Economics, Government, and Spanish from

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

and a PhD in Economics from

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 higher le ...

Career

In 2021 Helper joined the Biden administration as the Senior Economic Advisor. In 2012–13, Helper was a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers in the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

. She then served as the Chief Economist of the

U.S. Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth ...

from 2013 to 2015. In addition to her position as a professor of economics at

, Helper is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

, a committee member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Manufacturing, a department editor for the Journal of Operations Management, and an editorial review board member for the

Strategic Management Journal The Strategic Management Society (SMS) is a professional society for the advancement of strategic management. The society consists of nearly 3,000 members representing various backgrounds and perspectives from more than eighty different countries. ...

. She has been a visiting scholar at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, and 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 the ...

. Most of Helper's research focuses on the United States manufacturing system and ways in which it can be strengthened and revitalized, including bringing back industries that have moved overseas (

reshoring Offshoring is the relocation of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Usually this refers to a company business, although state gove ...

). While at the

, Helper encouraged corporations to consider all costs associated with producing goods overseas, rather than just the upfront costs, and analyzed ways to increase domestic innovation. In 2015, she contributed to the

report "Supply Chain Innovation: Strengthening America's Small Manufacturers", which analyzed the importance of reinvesting in America's supply chain, especially small manufacturers, and the barriers to innovation they currently face. More recently, her research has focused on the globalization of

supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, acti ...

s and the effects they have regionally, with emphasis in the automotive industry in the United States, Mexico, and China.

Honors and accomplishments

In 2009, Helper received the Women of Achievement Award from the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women. Case Western Reserve University awards this honor biannually to women of the faculty, staff, and student body who have made a significant impact on their community with their "professional accomplishments, leadership, and service".

Publications

Helper has contributed works to journals such as the

American Economic Review The ''American Economic Review'' is a monthly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious and highly distinguished journals in the field of ec ...

, the Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, and the

Journal of Law, Economics and Organization ''The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization'' is a triannual peer-reviewed academic journal covering law and economics. It was established in 1985 and is published by Oxford University Press. The founding editors were Oliver E. Williamson and ...

, among others. Her published works cover a diverse range of topics—from automotive supply chain innovation to international differences in productivity and employee attitudes.

References

External links

Staff page
at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University
Staff page
at the National Bureau of Economic Research {{DEFAULTSORT:Helper, Susan American economists American women economists Case Western Reserve University faculty Economists from Ohio Harvard University alumni Living people National Bureau of Economic Research Oberlin College alumni Writers from Cleveland Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women