Limor Golan, an expert in labor economics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the inaugural Laurence H. Meyer Professor at a ceremony in Holmes Lounge in March.
“Professor Golan’s research on issues like discrimination and gender gaps in the labor market and sources of intergenerational mobility are central to understanding how to address rising inequality in the United States,” said Feng Sheng Hu, dean of Arts & Sciences and the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor.
“It is fitting that Professor Golan should be the inaugural holder of a professorship named for Larry Meyer, whose expertise has been sought by multiple administrations, from President Ronald Reagan through President Barack Obama, and who has testified before Congress on macroeconomic policy issues,” Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said.
“Professor Golan’s research is informative for policies aimed at enabling individuals to escape poverty traps and at allowing for lower-middle-class children to have a chance at the American dream.”
Golan is a labor economist whose work over the past decade has focused on developing theoretical and empirical models of wage determination as well as studying inequity, rent distribution and efficiency issues in labor markets.
Most recently, Golan’s research has focused on household decisions and their implications for intergenerational persistence in income and wealth inequality. She joined the faculty of the Department of Economics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in 2012 and teaches labor economics and applied econometrics at the undergraduate and doctoral levels.
Her research has been published in leading academic journals such as Econometrica, The Review of Economic Studies and the Journal of Labor Economics. Golan also serves as a co-editor of the journal Quantitative Economics.
Golan is a research fellow in WashU’s Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy and at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She is also a member of the Human Capital and Economics Opportunity Global Working Group at the University of Chicago’s Milton Friedman Institute.
Golan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Tel Aviv University and a doctorate in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before obtaining her doctorate, she served for three years as an officer in the Research and Development Department of the Israeli Air Force.
Meyer legacy
Laurence H. and Florence K. Meyer, longtime supporters of Washington University, made a commitment in 2018 to establish and endow the Laurence H. Meyer Professorship.
Meyer was a professor of economics at Washington University for 27 years, from 1969 to 1996, and a former chair of the Department of Economics. He also was a research associate in the Center for the Study of American Business, now the Weidenbaum Center. He serves as a member of the Washington-Baltimore Regional Cabinet.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton nominated Meyer to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, on which he served from June 1996 through January 2002. He became widely known as an influential member of the Federal Open Market Committee and built a reputation for independent thinking and straight talk about monetary policy.
Today, Meyer is president of Monetary Policy Analytics, an independent advisory service focused on global macroeconomics and monetary policy. He advises hedge funds, global banks and insurance companies, and his commentaries are widely read throughout the Federal Reserve System and at other major central banks.
View a recording of the ceremony here.
