# Karen Dynan Professor of the Practice of Economics ![Karen Dynan](/sites/g/files/omnuum5991/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/econ/files/dynan_karen003r_1.jpg?itok=di5xiGOW) location\_on Littauer Center 319 smartphone [ 617-496-3374]() email laptop\_windows [Personal Website](https://kdynan.scholars.harvard.edu/) Karen Dynan served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2014 to 2017, where she led analysis of economic conditions and development of policies to address the nation’s economic challenges. From 2009 to 2013, Dynan was vice president and co-director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Before that, she was on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board, leading work in macroeconomic forecasting, household finances, and the Fed’s response to the financial crisis. Dynan has also served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (2003- 2004) and as a visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University (1998). Her current research focuses on fiscal and other types of macroeconomic policy, consumer behavior, and household finances. Dynan teaches in the Harvard Economics Department and at the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also currently a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Dynan received her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and her A.B. from Brown University. **Staff Support:** Cyriah Thomas **Email**: [cyriah\_thomas@hks.harvard.edu](mailto:cyriah_thomas@hks.harvard.edu) - ## Economic Fields [Macroeconomics](/economic-fields/macroeconomics) [Public Economics](/economic-fields/public-economics) - ## Faculty Alpha [A - L](/faculty-alpha/l) - ## People Alpha [A - E](/people-alpha/a-e) - ## Role [Faculty](/people-type/department-faculty)