Research
Chris.Foote@bos.frb.org
Biography
Christopher L. Foote is a senior economist and policy advisor in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department. His research and policy interests include the macroeconomics of the labor market and housing. Foote joined the Boston Fed in 2003 after serving as chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers. Also in 2003, he served as an economic advisor to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. He returned briefly to Iraq in 2004.
Foote graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1987 and then worked for two years as a newspaper reporter in Harrisonburg, Va. He earned a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan in 1996. From 1996 to 2002, Foote taught in the economics department at Harvard University. Each spring, he teaches intermediate macroeconomics at Harvard, where he was named a Professor of the Practice of Economics in 2012.
Work Experience
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Senior Economist and Policy Advisor, 2007–
Senior Economist, 2003–2006
Harvard University, Department of Economics
Professor of the Practice of Economics, 2012–
Visiting Lecturer on Economics, 2003–2011
Assistant and Associate Professor, 1996–2002
Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies, 2002
Director of Undergraduate Studies, 1998–2001
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management
Visiting Associate Professor of Economics, 2004–2006
Coalition Provisional Authority, Baghdad, Iraq
Economist, 2003–2004
Council of Economic Advisers
Chief Economist, 2003
Senior Staff Economist, 2002–2003
Staff Economist, 1994–1995
Department of Economics, University of Michigan
Various teaching and research positions, 1991–1994
Education
PhD, Macroeconomics and Political Economy, University of Michigan, 1996
Regents (University of Michigan Graduate School) Fellowship
Rackham (University of Michigan Graduate School) Pre-doctoral Fellowship
Alfred P. Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
BA, College of William and Mary, 1987
Public Service
Associate Editor, Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking
Editorial board, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics
Primary fields of research
Labor economics, housing, and macroeconomics
Publications
Journal articles
“Measuring the US Employment Situation Using Online Panels: The Yale Labor Survey,” with Tyler Hounshell, William D. Nordhaus, Douglas Rivers, and Pamela Torola. Forthcoming. Journal of Economic and Social Measurement.
"Rising Geographic Disparities in US Mortality," with Benjamin K. Couillard, Kavish Gandhi, Ellen Meara, and Jonathan Skinner. 2021. Journal of Economic Perspectives 35(4): 123–146. DOI: 10.1257/jep.35.4.123
"Cross-Sectional Patterns of Mortgage Debt during the Housing Boom: Evidence and Implications," with Lara Loewenstein and Paul S. Willen. 2021. The Review of Economic Studies 88(1): 229–259. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaa034
“Mortgage-Default Research and the Recent Foreclosure Crisis,” with Paul S. Willen. 2018. Annual Review of Financial Economics 10: 59–100.
"Labor Market Polarization over the Business Cycle," with Richard W. Ryan. 2014. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, pp. 371–413.
"Reducing Foreclosures: No Easy Answers," with Kristopher S. Gerardi, Lorenz Goette, and Paul S. Willen. 2009. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, pp. 89–138.
"Negative Equity and Foreclosure: Theory and Evidence," with Kristopher S. Gerardi and Paul S. Willen. 2008. Journal of Urban Economics 64(2): 234–245.
"Just the Facts: An Initial Analysis of the Subprime Crisis," with Kristopher S. Gerardi, Lorenz Goette, and Paul S. Willen. 2008. Journal of Housing Economics 17(4): 291–305.
"The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime: Comment," with Christopher F. Goetz. 2008. Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(1): 407–425.
"Economic Prospects and Policy in Iraq," with William Block, Keith Crane, and Simon Gray. 2004. Journal of Economic Perspectives 18(3): 47–70.
"Arbitraging a Discriminatory Labor Market: Black Workers at the Ford Motor Co., 1918-1947," with Warren Whatley and Gavin Wright. 2003. Journal of Labor Economics 21(3): 493–532.
"Testing the (S,s) Model," with John Leahy and Erik Hurst. 2000. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 90(2): 116–119.
"Trend Employment Growth and the Bunching of Job Creation and Destruction." Quarterly Journal of Economics 1998. 113(3): 809–834.
Book chapters and conference volumes
"A Conference Overview," with Katherine Bradbury. 2012. B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics 12(3): Article 1. Overview of Boston Fed 56th Economic Conference, Long-Term Effects of the Great Recession.
"Why Did So Many People Make So Many Ex Post Bad Decisions? The Causes of the Foreclosure Crisis," in Rethinking the Financial Crisis, eds. Alan S. Blinder, Andrew W. Lo, Robert M. Solow. 2012. Russell Sage and Century Foundations.
"Intermediate Macroeconomics," in The International Handbook of Teaching and Learning Economics, eds. Gail Hoyt and Kim Marie McGoldrick. 2011. Edward Elgar Press.
"The Subprime Mortgage Crisis," with Paul S. Willen in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, eds. Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume. 2011. Palgrave Macmillan.
"Reasonable People Did Disagree: Optimism and Pessimism about the U.S. Housing Market before the Crash," with Kristopher Gerardi and Paul S. Willen in The American Mortgage System: Crisis and Reform, eds. Susan M. Wachter and Marvin M. Smith. 2010. University of Pennsylvania Press.
"U.S. Labor Supply in the 21st Century," with Katharine Bradbury and Robert K. Triest in Labor Supply in the New Century, based on the Boston Fed's 52nd Economic Conference, 2008.
"Behavioral Economics: Its Prospects and Promises for Policymakers," with Lorenz Goette and Stephan Meier in Policymaking Insights from Behavioral Economics, based on a conference sponsored by the Boston Fed's Research Center for Behavioral Economics, 2007.
Other material
"Why Principal Reduction Won't Solve the Foreclosure Crisis," with Kristopher S. Gerardi and Paul S. Willen. 2002. Harvard College Economics Review February.
Comment on "Volatility and Dispersion in Business Growth Rates: Publicly Traded and Privately Held Firms," by S. Davis, J. Haltiwanger, R. Jarmin, and J. Miranda, 2006. NBER Macroeconomics Annual.
Comment on "Contract-Theoretic Approaches to Wages and Displacement," by W. J. den Haan, G. Ramey, and J. Watson, 1999. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review.
Working papers and other unpublished papers
“The Impact of the Age Distribution on Unemployment: Evidence from US States,” with Bruce Fallick. 2022. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 22-15. https://doi.org/10.29412/res.wp.2022.15
“Population Aging and the US Labor Force Participation Rate,” with Daniel H. Cooper, María J. Luengo-Prado, and Giovanni P. Olivei. 2021. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Current Policy Perspectives. December 20, 2021.
“Measuring the US Employment Situation Using Online Panels: The Yale Labor Survey,” with Tyler Hounshell, William D. Nordhaus, Douglas Rivers, and Pamela Torola. 2021. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Current Policy Perspectives. December 1, 2021.
“Rising Geographic Disparities in US Mortality,” with Benjamin K. Couillard, Kavish Gandhi, Ellen Meara, and Jonathan Skinner. 2021. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 21-9. https://doi.org/10.29412/res.wp.2021.09
“Recent Employment Growth in Cities, Suburbs, and Rural Communities” with Benjamin K. Couillard. 2019. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 19-20.
"Technological Innovation in Mortgage Underwriting and the Growth in Credit, 1985–2015," with Lara Loewenstein, and Paul S. Willen. 2019. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 19–11.
"Mortgage-Default Research and the Recent Foreclosure Crisis," with Paul S. Willen. 2017. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 17-13.
“Cross Sectional Patterns of Mortgage Debt during the Housing Boom: Evidence and Implications,” with Lara Loewenstein and Paul S. Willen. 2016. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 16-12. Revised in 2020.
"Oil and the Macroeconomy in a Changing World: A Conference Summary," with Jane S. Little. 2011. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Public Policy Discussion Papers No. 11-3.
"A Proposal to Help Distressed Homeowners: A Government Payment-Sharing Plan," with Jeff Fuhrer, Eileen Mauskopf and Paul Willen. 2009. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Public Policy Briefs No. 09-1.
"Space and Time in Macroeconomic Panel Data: Young Workers and State-Level Unemployment Revisited." 2007. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Research Department Working Papers No. 07-10.
Book reviews
Review of The Redistribution Recession: How Labor Market Distortions Contracted the Economy, by C.B. Mulligan. Journal of Economic Literature December 2013.
Review of Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America? by C. Brown, J. Haltiwanger and J. Lane. Journal of Economic Literature June 2008.
Review of Coping with Recession: UK Company Performance in Adversity, by P.A. Geroski and P. Gregg. Journal of Economic Literature June 2000.
Review of Dual Labor Markets: A Macroeconomic Perspective, by G. Saint-Paul. Journal of Economic Literature September 1998.