Center for Business and Government - November 2002 Director's Welcome

5 November 2002

To CBG Faculty, Fellows, Staff and Friends:

In my first months as Director, it has been truly gratifying to witness the intellectual and policy contributions of our CBG colleagues. I want to chronicle three such accomplishments in this letter.

Since CBG's infancy, Prof. Dale Jorgenson has been a core faculty member at the Center. A preeminent economist, his academic career stretches back more than 40 years, during which he has gained a much-deserved reputation as one of the world's leading experts in research on information technology and economic growth, applied econometrics, and energy and environmental economics. Adding to his many laurels, Prof. Jorgenson has just been named the first Samuel W. Morris University Professor. The rare honor of a University Professorship is intended for those who make fundamental intellectual contributions that span multiple disciplines in significance. He joins the ranks of only two other Kennedy School faculty in this position.

Prof. Jorgenson has authored more than 200 articles and authored or edited 24 books, including the recently published Economic Growth in the Information Age, the first major effort to quantify the effects of information technology on the U.S. economy. A past President of the American Economic Association and Chairman of the Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) of the National Research Council, his methodology has been adopted by the Congressional Budget Office and the OMB in their own analysis of taxation and the role of the private sector innovations in public sector obligations. In a recent Harvard Gazette article, Larry Summers applauded Dale's elevation to University Professor: "Dale Jorgenson is a social scientist whose insights have transformed economists' understanding of the fundamental processes of production, investment, and consumption." May we add our congratulations to those of President Summers' and countless others.

While one member of our faculty just begun a new appointment, another recently completed one. Prof. Robert Stavins, who directs the Environmental Economics Program, has stepped down as the longest serving Chair of the EPA's Environmental Economics Advisory Committee, where he will remain a member as he has been since 1991. His colleagues have described his five-year tenure as head of the EEAC as the most successful and accomplished period in the history of the Committee, both in its work within the EPA to streamline economic analysis and its impact on the broader national environmental policy debate. Profs. Jorgenson and Stavins exemplify the strength and scope of CBG's intellectual resources and the positive contributions we make to public policy.

Lastly, Prof. Richard Light and Senior Fellow Tom Healey recently convened the first session of CBG's Young Faculty Leaders Forum, and by all indications the late September two-day symposium was a huge success. For many years, CBG has addressed how the American education system might be reformed through the innovative collaboration of the public and private sectors as well as academia. In the Young Faculty Leaders Forum, Dick and Tom have developed a unique format to bring together pioneering change-makers from different disciplines in universities across the U.S. The group is set to tackle some of the most difficult issues in contemporary American education: testing and accountability, the proliferation of charter schools, the use of technology, the application of private sector management techniques in public school systems, and more. I encourage you to check out the November/December issue of Harvard Magazine for a profile on the program and its immense promise for the future.

These are but three instances of well-deserved recognition, accomplished transitions, and promising new beginnings on the part of our fabulous faculty. I look forward to sharing similarly impressive news with you on future occasions.

All the best.