Author Profile

Lisa D. Cook is a professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University. She was the first Marshall Scholar from Spelman College and received a second B.A. in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley with fields in macroeconomics and international economics. Prior to this appointment, she was a faculty member of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, a deputy director for Africa Research at the Center for International Development at Harvard University, and a national fellow at Stanford University. Among her current research interests are economic growth and development, innovation, financial institutions and markets, and economic history.

Dr. Cook is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and is the author of a number of published articles, book chapters, and working papers. She is on the board of editors at the Journal of Economic Literature, and her research has appeared in such journals as the American Economic Review and the Journal of Economic Growth. She is currently director of the American Economic Association Summer Program and was president of the National Economic Association from 2015 to 2016. In 2019, she was elected to the executive committee of the American Economic Association and was also awarded the AEA Impactful Mentor Award (for mentoring graduate students). In 2020, she was elected to the National Academy of Social Insurance. During the 2011-2012 academic year, she was on leave at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama where she worked on innovation, the euro crisis, and small business. Recently, she served on the Biden-Harris Transition Team.

She has had visiting appointments at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the University of Michigan, and the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia. Dr. Cook serves on the Advisory Board of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation of the Smithsonian Institution and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2017-2019, she was a Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Society) distinguished lecturer. She is also a guest columnist for the Detroit Free Press and a regular commentator on CNBC, MSNBC, and NPR. She speaks English, French, Russian, Spanish, and Wolof.