The macroeconomic research program at the Jain Family Institute provides cutting-edge macroeconomic research, modeling, and quantitative analysis. We explore economy-wide effects of fiscal and monetary policies, as well as the different effects across demographic groups and geography. 

Our work centers on independent, non-partisan research from internal and external experts. JFI’s macro program publishes research notes, opinion pieces, and academic-style research papers. In progress is an interactive data dashboard and macroeconomic models, so others can explore these topics with us. Online seminars, in-person events, and media engagement allow further connections to our work.

Our program focuses on full employment, that is, an economy in which everyone who wants to work has a job, and related issues. Economists have struggled to define and pursue full (or maximum) employment. Our program contributes to those efforts.

Policymakers at all levels of government and across agencies are formally committed to full employment. Even so, the implementation has been uneven and incomplete—as one example, the racial disparities in the labor market reflect that the United States has never achieved full employment.

In 2022, our work is primarily related to the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices, in particular the goals in the Fed’s new monetary policy framework. The Fed currently faces decisions about when to raise interest rates, so research on new empirical tools and theoretical models is timely and could help inform the current policy.

JFI’s macro program aims to address three main questions:

• What are reliable quantitative indicators of “broad-based” and “inclusive” employment?
• How does the pursuit of stable prices and maximum employment affect people in different demographic groups or parts of the country?
• What are the theoretical trade-offs between stable prices and maximum employment?

Economic events and the direction of the policy debate drive our analysis; however, we are committed to a set of projects, such as research briefs to explain the goals of monetary policy; data metrics for the Fed’s new goals; and macroeconomic research using a cutting-edge distributional macro model–referred to as a Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian model.

Our program’s primary audiences are policymakers and their staff, other macroeconomic experts in academia and the policy community, as well as the general public. Our analysis in its many formats will respect the differences in technical backgrounds and interests of our audiences. We welcome feedback on our new program and opportunities to collaborate.

Contact: jfi@jainfamilyinstitute.org