Home > Conferences & Lectures > Homer Jones Memorial Lecture Series

About the Speaker

John B. Taylor is the Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University and the director of Stanford's Introductory Economic Studies Center. For the past four years, the Stanford Review has rated Professor Taylor as one of the 10 best teachers at Stanford. In addition, he recently received the Rhoades Prize for excellent teaching in introductory courses. Professor Taylor received his Ph.D. at Stanford.

Besides his frequently cited work on wage setting and expectations, Professor Taylor's professional research interests encompass macroeconomic topics related to monetary policy, including the design of policy rules. Regarding the latter, he is most noted for the Taylor Rule, a formulaic rule designed to inform Federal Reserve policymakers of the appropriate stance for monetary policy under a set of preconceived notions. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the Taylor Rule has attracted widening interest in recent years in the financial markets, the academic community and at central banks.

In all, Professor Taylor has published more than 100 research papers and several books on economics, including Macroeconomics, a best-selling intermediate text that recently entered its second printing. Outside of academia, his articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times. He has also appeared on several television programs, including CNN's Crossfire, ABC's Nightline, and PBS's NewsHour.

Professor Taylor's record of public service is equally distinguished. He served as a member of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 1991. At the same time, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Uruguay Round of the GATT multilateral trade negotiations. In 1991, he returned to Stanford University. Since 1994, he served as director of the Center for Economic Policy Research. He is also currently a member of the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office's Panel of Economic Advisers.

John is married and has two children. He and his family make their home on the Stanford campus.