Geoffrey Woglom is Professor of Economics Emeritus at Amherst College where he taught for over 40 years.  During his career, he has been a consultant at the Federal Reserve Board and the International Monetary fund and held visiting positions at Harvard, Cambridge, LSE, and Nanjing universities. 

 

I believe that the most important question that economists study is the role of markets: when do they work well and when do they fail. All of my teaching in one context or another is related to this central question. I particularly enjoy teaching the introductory course because I get to address this central question in many different areas. The introductory course is also a lot of fun because I get to talk about exciting ideas and ways of looking at society to students who are hearing about them for the first time. My more advanced courses are addressed at the central question of economics in the context of financial markets. How do financial markets increase human welfare by promoting the efficient allocation of savings and investments? How do financial markets sometimes lead to macroeconomic instability as a result of financial panics, asset price bubbles, or bad macroeconomic policies?

Professional and Biographical Information

Ph.D., Yale University (1974)
M.Phil., Yale University (1970)
B.A., Yale College (1968)
A.M. (honorary), Amherst College (1984)

Fulbright Scholar, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town South Africa, 1999

1993-1994, Visiting Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard University

1991-1992, Visiting Lecturer, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge;
Visiting Scholar, Pembroke College, Cambridge

1988-1993, Visiting Scholar, International Monetary Fund (summers) 

1984-1985, Academic Visitor, Centre for Labour Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science 

1977-1978, Financial Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

1976-1977, Visiting Economist, Banking Section, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System