The Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance (JRC) is a leading research center at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) of Princeton University. Founded in 2011, the JRC primarily promotes research on public policy as it relates to financial markets and macroeconomics. The center has also expanded its research and teaching to multiple disciplines, including economics, operations research, political science, history, and ethics.
History
Founding
In April 2011, Mitch Julis, a Princeton alum and current partner of Canyon Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles-based hedge fund, made a gift of $10 million to the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. His funds were used to create a center that sought to analyze and improve the nation's financial and public policies. Named for Julis’ parents, the Julis-Rabinowitz Center began its operations in the 2011-2012 academic year, and has since maintained close relations with the School of Public and International Affairs, the Bendheim Center for Finance, and the Princeton University Department of Economics. Christina Paxson, former dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and current president of Brown University helped to establish the organization which aimed to increase opportunities for research and teaching. The center was originally located at Princeton's Frick Chemistry Laboratory. In 2017, the JRC moved to its permanent location at the Julis Romo Rabinowitz Building.
Organizational structure
The current director of the JRC is the John H. Laporte, Jr. Class of 1967 Professor of Economics, Public Policy and Finance Atif R. Mian. Professor Mian holds a bachelor's degree in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Much of his research focuses on finance and macroeconomy, analyzing housing trends, mortgage data, and the 2008 financial crisis. His research has been cited in The New York Times, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Economist.
The JRC is also supported by an External Advisory Council, which includes Robert A. Johnson at the Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET), Philip Bennett at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and Joyce Chang at JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Research
The goal of the JRC is to provide opportunities for research at the intersection of public policy and finance through its events, workshops, and initiatives. The research conducted at the JRC has been published in numerous news outlets, including Barron's, MarketWatch, The Washington Post, and Institutional Investor.
Scholars
Its scholars include a wide array of economists, political scientists, historians, and industry experts. Professors associated with the JRC have won a number of prestigious and international awards, including the Clark Medal (Yuliy Sannikov, 2016), the Moynihan Prize (Alan Krueger, 2016), and the Bipartisan Health Policy Leadership Award from the National Alliance of Health Policy (Uwe Reinhardt, 2017). The center also is home to Alan Krueger, the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy; Alan Blinder, a former member of the Council of Economic Advisers and Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve System; Markus Brunnermeier, Research Fellow at the Bank for International Settlements; Harold James, the current Historian at the International Monetary Fund; and Cecilia Rouse, a former member of the Council of Economic Advisers and current Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. The JRC is also home to a number of External Advisory Council members who work in government, industry, and academia.
Projects
Washington Center Grant
Atif Mian, Director of the JRC and Professor of Economics and of Public Affairs, runs the Washington Center Grant research project. Using household data at the county-level, he seeks to describe the role of household debt in the 2008 financial crisis. In 2014, he published his findings in House of Debt with Amir Sufi, at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business. Because of his research, Mian has been named one of the International Monetary Fund's "top 25 bright, young economists."
Macro, Money and Finance
The Princeton Initiative: Macro, Money and Finance organizes an annual meeting for students to discuss trends in modern finance and macroeconomic models in the context of financial crises. The program is organized by Markus Brunnermeier, Professor of Economics at Princeton University, and Yuliy Sannikov, Professor of Economics at Stanford University.