Stanford University

News Service


NEWS RELEASE

3/2/01

CONTACT: Lisa Trei, News Service (650) 725-0224;

EDITORS: A photograph of Taylor is available at http://newsphotos.stanford.edu/ or by calling 650-725-1943

Economics professor John Taylor nominated for international treasury post in Bush administration

Economics Professor John B. Taylor has been nominated undersecretary of Treasury for international affairs, the White House announced Friday.

If confirmed by the Senate, Taylor will be responsible for representing the United States and the Treasury Department on issues such as exchange rates, the role of the International Monetary Fund, technical assistance to economies in transition and how the slowing U.S. economy affects the rest of the world. One of Taylor's responsibilities would be to decide how the U.S. responds to economic crises, such as the recent slump in Turkey.

Taylor, 54, has had extensive experience dealing with international economic policy issues. He joined the staff of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) during the Ford administration. In 1989, during the previous Bush administration, he returned as a member of the CEA with responsibility for international economics.

In this role, he traveled to Poland, Hungary and Romania as those countries began transitioning to market economies to discuss U.S. policy regarding technical assistance and stabilization loans. He was also behind a trade initiative to reduce U.S. trade barriers for eastern European countries. And he was a member of an interagency group led by the Treasury Department to analyze the impact of the Iraqi invasion on Kuwait.

Since leaving government, Taylor has continued to be involved in international issues and has given advice to many central banks worldwide.

At Stanford, Taylor is the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics. He is also a senior fellow at both the Hoover Institution and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), which he formerly directed. Currently, he is vice chair of the university Faculty Senate. He has also chaired the Committee on Undergraduate Studies and served as faculty representative to the Finance Committee of the university Board of Trustees.

Taylor teaches economics to undergraduate and doctoral students. In 1992, he received the Hoagland prize and, in 1997, the Lilian and Thomas B. Rhodes Prize for excellence in undergraduate teaching. His lively and sometimes zany introductory course, Economics 1, is one of the most popular classes on campus and attracts about 1,000 students annually. During Spring Quarter, it will be taught by substitute teachers.

Taylor is leaving for Washington on Sunday to work as a consultant to the Treasury Department. A date for his confirmation hearing has not been set.

Taylor was born in Yonkers, N.Y., and grew up in Pittsburgh, Penn. He earned his bachelor's from Princeton in 1968 and his doctorate in economics from Stanford in 1973. He is married to Allyn Taylor, an attorney specializing in intellectual property. The couple has two children.

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-By Lisa Trei-

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