About
Biography
Harris’ current research interests include the study of business cycles, the effect of monetary policy on asset prices, the macroeconomics of banking unions, and the optimal size and composition of government liabilities.
His work has appeared in Econometrica, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, AEJ Macro, the Journal of Monetary Economics, the Economic Journal, HOPE and elsewhere.
Prior to joining the University of Surrey, Harris held the chair in macroeconomics at the University of Bern where he was also the director of the Institute of Political Economy. He was a professor at the Study Center Gerzensee, the University of Bonn (Germany), the Catholic University (Belgium), the University of Maryland, Vanderbilt University and Boston College. He has been a consultant to many international organizations and central banks (including the IMF, the ECB, the Bank of France, the Bank of Finland, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority). And he has also served as the chairman of the board of the Athens University of Economics and Business, a member of the executive board of SUERF, a member of the board of the SZG Foundation and of the World Trade Institute. He is currently a research fellow of the St Louis Fed, a research fellow of CEPR, a consultant with the NY Fed and the Bank of Greece, a senior advisor with the Study Center Gerzensee, the founder and president of the Karl Brunner Institute, the founder and director of The SNB and its Watchers and Hydra Workshop events and the founder and co-organizer of the St Louis Fed-SNB-JEDC special issue of the JEDC. He is a frequent contributor to the media.
Harris received his doctorate in economics in 1985 from the University of Rochester and his bachelor's degree in economics in 1980 from the Athens University of Economics and Business in Athens, Greece.
Areas of expertise
Monetary Economics; Macroeconomics; International Finance
ResearchResearch interests
My current research interests include the study of business cycles, the effect of monetary policy on asset prices, the macroeconomics of banking unions, and the optimal size and composition of government liabilities.
Research interests
My current research interests include the study of business cycles, the effect of monetary policy on asset prices, the macroeconomics of banking unions, and the optimal size and composition of government liabilities.
Publications
We study optimal policy in an economy where interest rates are low because public debt serves as collateral or buffer stock. Issuing more public debt raises welfare by easing the underlying friction but also reduces the private valuation of this service, raising interest rates. This trade-off shapes the optimal quantity of public debt in the long run, justifies a departure from tax smoothing in the short run, and calls for larger deficits during financial crises. Our analysis illustrates the possible robustness of these insights to different microfoundations and helps clarify when exactly low interest rates represent an opportunity for cheap government borrowing.