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Two decades ago, few ordinary Americans knew—or cared—much about the Federal Reserve. Today, interest in the rise and fall of interest rates runs high.
“Over the 18 years since I finished graduate school, the profile of the Federal Reserve has just risen and risen,” says Ed Gamber, associate professor of economics and business.
For Gamber, that means a wealth of potential projects, including exploring how the Federal Reserve reacts to fluctuations in the economy—and how the economy reacts to the Federal Reserve’s periodic adjustments of interest rates.
“In general, my research tends to be focused on policy,” he says. “I look at how policy makers have behaved in the past and whether it’s been good or bad for the economy.”
Gamber, who arrived at Lafayette in 1992, later left for two years to serve as principal analyst in the Macro Analysis Division of the Congressional Budget Office.
“I was in charge of forecasting current quarter growth,” he says, explaining that he kept in close contact with Federal Reserve employees. “They have a very powerful research machine.”
Gamber has also developed several new courses, including one that examines how corruption and the quality of government affect a nation’s productivity.
“The whole course asks the question, ‘Why are rich countries rich and poor countries poor?’” Gamber says.
Gamber’s other new courses include one on economic forecasting and a First-Year Seminar on the economic and social consequences of globalization.
“I’m really, really passionate about the subject I study,” he says. “I like to talk about it and I like to think about it.”
That passion has spilled over to many of the students Gamber teaches in his classes, and to those he mentors in EXCEL and senior honors thesis research.
For Gina Lukaszewicz McCarthy ’96, a graduate of Wharton School of Business who now works in credit derivative sales at Morgan Stanley in New York City, Gamber’s influence was vital.
“Professor Gamber was my single most important professor, in terms of my education and the shaping of my career goals,” she says. “His classes offered real-world examples of how monetary policy shaped the financial markets they were by far the most helpful for anyone looking to work on Wall Street after graduating from college.”
Peter Carlson ’02, now a financial analyst at Computer Sciences Corp. in Falls Church, Va., also cites Gamber as an important force in his education and career.
“He showed me the benefits of viewing things in economic terms,” Carlson says, explaining that Gamber also helped him decide to pursue graduate work in the near future. “My research experience with him has given me confidence that I can succeed in academic arenas where there is more to learning than taking notes and exams and where you are more responsible for your own education.”
Highlights
Publications: Macroeconomics, with David Colander, Prentice-Hall, 2002; “Has the Rise in Globalization Reduced U.S. Inflation in the 1990s?” Reiter and Juann Hung, Economic Inquiry, January 2001, pp. 58-73.
Honors: National Science Foundation grant to establish a computer laboratory in quantitative economics, August 1991; Earhart Foundation Fellowship, 1984-85 and 1986-87.
Achievements: Board of Editors, Eastern Economic Journal, fall 1997-present; Congressional Budget Office, Principal Analyst, Macro Analysis Division, August 1996-August 1998.
Contact: (610) 330-5310, gambere@lafayette.edu