Kristin Forbes

Forbes was born on August 21, 1970, in Concord, New Hampshire, the eldest of three children. Her father was an orthopedist, and her mother was a stay-at-home mom.{{Cite web |last=Caldwell |first=Tom |date=2019-09-23 |title=Harold James Forbes, 76 |url=https://www.laconiadailysun.com/community/obituaries/harold-james-forbes-76/article_c92ba8bc-de1d-11e9-af0a-b3651ead3d67.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=The Laconia Daily Sun |language=en}} Forbes attended Concord High School and in 1988 was selected as a Presidential Scholar, earning a trip to Washington, D.C. to meet President Ronald Reagan in the White House Rose Garden.{{Cite web |title=Parallel Paths - Finance & Development, March 2017 |url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2017/03/people.htm |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=www.imf.org |language=en-US}}

After graduating from high school, Forbes enrolled at Williams College, taking first-year courses in astrophysics, economics, religion, and psychology. She chose economics as her major, crediting Morton O. Schapiro for inspiring her interest in the subject.{{Cite journal |last=Schlegel |first=Martin |date=2024-10-07 |title=Martin Schlegel: Eighth Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture - introduction of Kristin J Forbes |url=https://www.bis.org/review/r241007n.htm |journal=Bank for International Settlements |language=en}} She graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1992, receiving a BA in economics and winning the David Wells prize for best undergraduate thesis.{{Cite web |title=Kristin J. Forbes Resume |url=https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PersonID=41475&DocID=11204 |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=MIT Sloan School of Management}}

After completing her undergraduate studies, Forbes joined the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley as an analyst. After one year at the bank, Dick Sabot put Forbes in touch with Nancy Birdsall at the World Bank, who hired her for a project examining the determinants of economic growth in Latin America. The role inspired an interest in macroeconomics, encouraging Forbes to pursue a PhD and a career in economic policy. She pursued graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where her dissertation research was supervised by Paul Krugman, Rudi Dornbusch, and Jaume Ventura and was supported by the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program. During her studies, Forbes spent three months traveling in India, and pursued research on financial contagion and the relationship between inequality and economic growth. She received her PhD in 1998, winning the Robert Solow prize for excellence in research and teaching.

In 1998, Forbes joined the MIT Sloan School of Management as assistant professor of economics, gaining tenure in 2004. In 2009, she became the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson professor of management and global economics at MIT. Alongside her academic appointment, Forbes is an affiliate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Center for Economic and Policy Research, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She also formerly served on the editorial board of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

Forbes accepted her first policy position in 2001, when John B. Taylor recruited her to become Deputy Assistant Secretary of Quantitative Policy Analysis for the Latin American and Caribbean Nations at the United States Department of the Treasury. Her role focused on financial stability in Latin America. After returning to MIT, Forbes was recruited by Gregory Mankiw to join the Council of Economic Advisers of George W. Bush, where she became the youngest person in history to hold her position.{{cite web |date=15 May 2014 |title=Former Bush aide joins Bank of England rate-setting body |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27433421 |access-date=15 May 2014 |publisher=BBC News}} As a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, Forbes focused on the economic ascendance of China, where she voiced her belief that workers in other Asian countries would be more impacted by China's rise than those in the United States. She left the CEA in 2005, returning to her academic position.

In 2014, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne appointed Forbes to be an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England,{{Cite news |date=2014-05-15 |title=Former Bush aide joins Bank of England rate-setting body |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-27433421 |access-date=2024-01-03}} replacing Ben Broadbent, who was promoted to Deputy Governor of Monetary Policy.{{Cite web |date=2014-05-15 |title=Osborne Puts Another Woman On BoE Interest Rate Setting Committee |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/05/15/george-osborne-kristin-forbes-bank-mpc_n_5329623.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=HuffPost UK |language=en}} She became the second woman on the nine-person Monetary Policy Committee, joining Minouche Shafik, formerly of the International Monetary Fund.

File:Bank of England Facade.jpg in London]]

At the Bank of England, Forbes became a vocal dissenter, with commentators labelling her both a monetary policy "dove" and "hawk" at different points in her tenure. In the early months of her position, Forbes advocated against interest rises, arguing that insufficient information was available on whether inflationary pressures in the UK were being masked by the strengthening of the Pound sterling, and the corresponding fall in import prices.{{Cite news |last=Giles |first=Chris |date=2014-10-01 |title=MPC's Kristin Forbes dovish on interest rate rises |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/a3b779be-4983-11e4-8d68-00144feab7de |access-date=2023-01-03}} She discussed this tradeoff in her first public speech as a Monetary Policy Committee member, delivered at an event at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

File:UK interest rates, May 1997 to present.svg, 1997 to the present]]

In later years, Forbes would become an advocate for interest rate rises, arguing that pessimism about the state of the global economy was overstated.{{Cite news |last=Cadman |first=Emily |date=2014-11-25 |title=MPC's new 'hawkish dove' causes a flutter |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/458d402e-74a5-11e4-b30b-00144feabdc0 |access-date=2023-01-03}} In November 2014, she emphasized that she placed "slightly more probability on the risk that the global economy could be somewhat stronger than in our baseline forecast", a stance that placed her on the hawkish wing of the nine-member committee. Despite these views, Forbes would continue to vote against rate rises at most subsequent meetings.{{Cite news |last=Allen |first=Katie |date=2015-09-11 |title=Bank of England official raises prospects for early interest rate hike |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/sep/11/bank-of-england-interest-rates |access-date=2024-01-03 |issn=0261-3077}} In August 2016, she joined a unanimous majority of the Monetary Policy Committee to lower rates from 0.5% to 0.25% in response to the 2016 Brexit referendum.{{Cite news |last=Chu |first=Ben |date=2017-02-07 |title=Bank of England policymaker Kristin Forbes on verge of voting for rate rise |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bank-of-england-policymaker-kristin-forbes-on-verge-of-voting-for-rate-rise-a7567601.html |access-date=2023-01-03}}

In the months after this vote, Forbes emphasized in public statements that uncertainty created by Brexit was less of a drag on growth than was previously expected,{{Cite news |last=Milliken |first=David |date=2016-11-23 |title=BoE's Forbes says Brexit uncertainty less of a drag on growth |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-boe-forbes/boes-forbes-says-brexit-uncertainty-less-of-a-drag-on-growth-idUKKBN13I0PM/ |access-date=2023-01-03}} and advocated against further monetary stimulus and rate cuts.{{Cite news |last=Khan |first=Mehreen |date=2016-09-22 |title=BoE Forbes 'unconvinced' of need for more stimulus |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/d93f4673-67d7-3902-b3a2-cd0b508bdae3 |access-date=2023-01-03}} In June 2017, Forbes joined Ian McCafferty and Michael Saunders to vote in favor of an interest rate increase, bringing the Bank of England closer to a rate increase than any time since 2007.{{Cite news |last=Chu |first=Ben |date=2017-06-15 |title=Three Bank of England policymakers in shock vote for interest rate rise |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/bank-of-england-interest-rate-rise-monetary-policy-committee-three-vote-in-favour-a7791266.html |access-date=2023-01-03}} The 5–3 vote was a surprise to analysts, and led to a sharp increase in the value of the Pound.

Forbes left the Bank of England in June 2017, returning to her post at MIT.{{Cite news |date=2017-02-09 |title=Kristin Forbes to leave Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee |language=en-GB |work=Belfast Telegraph |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/kristin-forbes-to-leave-bank-of-england-monetary-policy-committee/35437649.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |issn=0307-1235}} She was replaced by Silvana Tenreyro, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics.{{Cite news |last1=Hannon |first1=Paul |last2=Szary |first2=Wiktor |date=2017-06-19 |title=Bank of England Appoints LSE Professor Silvana Tenreyro to Monetary Policy Committee |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/bank-of-england-appoints-lse-professor-silvana-tenreyro-to-mpc-1497872102 |access-date=2024-01-03 |issn=0099-9660}} In leaving her role, Forbes criticized the Bank of England and other central banks, arguing that the high public profile of central bankers discouraged aggressive action against inflation.{{Cite news |last=Giles |first=Chris |date=2017-06-22 |title=Exiting MPC member fires salvo at central bank's decision making |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/bbe217cc-5765-11e7-80b6-9bfa4c1f83d2 |access-date=2023-01-03}} She also argued that an overload of work for senior economists discouraged deviations from baseline models and analysis. Mark Carney, then-Governor of the Bank of England, emphasized that Forbes provided "insight, fresh-thinking and academic rigour to our [the Bank of England's] deliberations, as well as a fresh and engaging approach to communications."

Alongside her policy positions, Forbes pursues research on international macroeconomics and monetary economics. According to Research Papers in Economics, she is among the most productive economists in the world, ranking within the top 65 female economists by research output.{{Cite web |title=Top Female Economists Rankings {{!}} IDEAS/RePEc |url=https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.women.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=ideas.repec.org}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://web.mit.edu/kjforbes/www/ MIT web site]
• [https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2017/03/people.htm Article on Forbes in Finance & Development]
• [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-13/bank-of-england-to-lose-a-rebel-voice-against-brexit-consensus Article on Forbes on Bloomberg]
• [http://www.theeditorial.com/essay/2015/1/11/kristin-forbes Article on Forbes in TheEditorial]

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Category:1970 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Concord, New Hampshire

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Category:American women economists

Category:Morgan Stanley employees

Category:World Bank people

Category:United States Council of Economic Advisers

Category:MIT Sloan School of Management faculty

Category:Group of Thirty

Category:Economists from New Hampshire

Category:21st-century American economists

Category:Honorary commanders of the Order of the British Empire