Rate My Professor James Poterba

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).