Richmond Fed names new Director of Research

In his new role, Weinberg becomes the Bank President's chief policy advisor in the areas of banking, financial institutions and markets, and a member of the Bank's senior management team. He has been acting research director since his predecessor Jeffrey M. Lacker left the post to become Bank president in August 2004.

Weinberg has been a member of the Bank's highly-regarded team of research economists for the past 12 years, and has led the Bank's advisory group on banking policy since becoming vice president in 2000. He has collaborated with Federal Reserve System colleagues in developing system payments policy, and as director of publications since 2003, he has set the agenda for the Bank's academic and policy publications. A noteworthy author and frequent collaborator with Lacker, Weinberg's numerous articles have covered a broad range of policy issues including contract theory and the structure of markets for banking and payments services. The 1989 article Optimal Contracts under Costly State Falsification, published in the Journal of Political Economy and co-authored with Lacker, is widely read and has been cited extensively.

"John is well-versed in many areas of economic research and policy. In his role as acting research director, he showed a great commitment to expanding our research economist's engagement in the System's policy discussions," said President Lacker. "As we move forward, John's expertise combined with the expertise of our chief monetary policy advisor, Marvin Goodfriend, makes the research department and the Bank well positioned to not only affect banking, payments and monetary policies, but to influence more broadly the way the public in general thinks about a wide range of public policy issues."

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Weinberg received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and doctorate in economics from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. He was previously assistant professor of economics at the Krannert School of Management, Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and an adjunct professor at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Weinberg and his wife Laurie have two children, Jeanette, 19, and Yuri, 14.

A collection of Weinberg's numerous articles and papers can be found on the Bank's web site by clicking here http://www.rich.frb.org/research/economists/john_weinberg.cfm.