Robert G. Murphy

Associate Professor
Department of Economics
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
Tel: (617) 552 3688
Fax: (617) 552 2308
E-mail: murphyro@bc.edu
Curriculum Vita: PDF format

Course Information:

EC 204 Macroeconomic Theory

EC 271 International Economic Relations

EC 304 Macroeconomic Policy

EC 375 Economic Growth and Development

EC 497-98 Honors Seminar

Media Commentary:

This Week in Business: The Economic Climate (New England Cable News, May 3, 2009)

How will President-Elect Obama Impact the Economy? (New England Cable News, November 5, 2008)

Effect of Rebate Checks on the Economy (New England Cable News, April 28, 2008)

Presentations:

Perspectives on the U.S. Economy (Accessing the Economy Program, April 14, 2008, The Irish Institute, Boston College)

Improving the Coverage of Official Statistics in Undergraduate Economics Textbooks (The 2008 World Congress on National Accounts and Economic Performance Measures for Nations, Washington, DC, May 2008. Link to World Congress conference program)

The U.S. Economic Outlook (Institute for Real Estate Management, January 2006)

Social Security Forum (Boston College, April 2005)

Economic Development and Iraq (Model UN Conference, October 2004)

Economic Commentary:

"How Risky are Private Accounts?" (July 2005)

"Economic Development and Iraq" (October 2004)

"Tax Cut Won't Cure the Trade Deficit" (June 2001)

"Our Friend, the Trade Deficit" (May 21, 1999: The Washington Post)

"Don't Bury Old NAIRU Yet" (May 4, 1999: Wall Street Journal)

"Time for Japan to Inflate" (March 1999: Journal of Commerce)

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"Time to Retirement is Shorter Than You Think" (December 1998)

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"Will Privatizing Social Security Really Raise Returns?" (August 1998: Journal of Commerce)

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"No Jobless Rise from Minimum Wage" (June 15, 1998: Wall Street Journal)

"Don't Index Capital Gains" (July 1997: Journal of Commerce)

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"A Credible Set of Budget Assumptions" (April 1997)

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"Diminishing Returns to Social Security" (November 1996: Journal of Commerce)

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"Economy Growing Faster than GDP Data Show" (August 1996: Journal of Commerce)

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Note: PDF format files can be downloaded with Adobe Acrobat. You can get a copy of the free Acrobat Reader for Macintosh, Windows or Sun.

Economic Forecasts and Outlook:

Economic Snapshot: A Monthly Update on the State of the Economy

March 12, 2001
April 16, 2001
May 17, 2001

BVAR Forecast

Forecast of GDP Growth Using Monthly Indicators

Research Papers:

"Government Policy and the Effectiveness of Foreign Aid" (August 2006, PDF format)

"Does Household Debt Help Forecast Consumer Spending?" (December 2000, PDF format)

"What's Behind the Decline in the NAIRU?" (November 1999, PDF format)

"Accounting for the Recent Decline in NAIRU" (October 1998, PDF format)

Recent and Forthcoming Publications:

"The Decline in the NAIRU" (in The Economic Outlook for 2000, Proceedings of the Forty-Seventh Annual Conference on the Economic Outlook, University of Michigan, November 1999).

"Accounting for the Recent Decline in the NAIRU" (April 1999: Business Economics, PDF format)

"Macroeconomic Policy Implications of Oil in Colombia" (in F. Gunter, ed., Colombia: An Opening Economy, JAI Press, 1999).