James Poterba

James Poterba is the Mitsui Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) since 2008. He earned his A.B. in Economics summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1980 and his M.Phil. and D.Phil. in Economics from Oxford University in 1982 and 1983, respectively, as a Marshall Scholar. Poterba joined MIT in 1982 as an Instructor in Economics, advancing to Assistant Professor (1983-1986), Associate Professor (1986-1988), Professor (1988-1996), and Mitsui Professor since 1996. He headed the MIT Economics Department from 2006 to 2008, directed the NBER Public Economics Research Program from 1991 to 2008, and was Associate Director of the NBER Taxation Research Program from 1989 to 1991. Poterba has held editorial roles including editor of the Journal of Public Economics (1998-2006) and trustee positions at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, College Retirement Equity Fund (CREF), and TIAA-CREF Mutual Funds.

Poterba's research in public economics and financial economics examines how taxation affects the saving and portfolio decisions of households and firms, determinants of retirement saving, the drawdown of assets in retirement, and the role of tax-deferred retirement saving programs such as 401(k) plans. He is coauthor of The Role of Annuity Markets in Financing Retirement (2001) and editor or coeditor of Policy Responses to Tax Competition (2025), Economic Analysis of Infrastructure Investment (2021), Fiscal Reform in Colombia (2005), Fiscal Institutions and Fiscal Performance (1999), Empirical Foundations of Household Taxation (1996), International Comparisons of Household Saving (1994), and Global Warming: Economic Policy Responses (1991). Notable publications include 'Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets: Policyholder Evidence from the U.K. Annuity Market' (Journal of Political Economy, 2004, with Amy Finkelstein), 'Tax-Motivated Trading by Individual Investors' (American Economic Review, 2005, with Zoran Ivkovic and Scott Weisbenner), and 'The Composition and Drawdown of Wealth in Retirement' (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2011, with Steven F. Venti and David A. Wise). Among his honors are membership in the National Academy of Sciences (2015), fellowship in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996) and Econometric Society (1988), Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association (2022), and the Daniel M. Holland Medal from the National Tax Association (2014). He served as President of the National Tax Association (2009) and Eastern Economic Association (2012), and as a member of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform (2005).

Professional Email: poterba@mit.edu