Laura D'Andrea Tyson

Laura D’Andrea Tyson is an American economist born on June 28, 1947 in New Jersey. She is married to writer Erik S. Tarloff and has one son, Elliot S. Tarloff. 

Laura graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Smith College in 1969 and earned her Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974. She joined the faculty of the economics department a Princeton University in 1974 and remained in the position until 1977 when she became a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. She was appointed a professor of business administration in 1990. She served in the Clinton Administration as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1993 to 1995. She was a spokesperson in favour of GATT, arguing with Sir James Goldsmith on Charlie Rose that American jobs will be increased by the trade agreement. Tyson was Director of the National Economic Council from 1995 to 1996. Tyson has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1987, a board director of Morgan Stanley since 1997, a board director of AT&T Inc. since 1999, a board director of Eastman Kodak and is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation. From 1998 to 2001, she was Dean of the Haas Business School. From 2002 to 2006, Tyson was the first female Dean of London Business School. In December, 2009 it was announced that Tyson will join CB Richard Ellis Board of Directors on March 4, 2010. Tyson also sits on the FINANCE Strategic Advisory Board.

Laura Tyson has published a number of books and articles on industrial competitiveness, trade, and also on the economies of Central Europe and their transitions to market systems. Some of her books include Who’s Bashing Whom, The Global Gender Gap Report 2008, Economic Adjustment in Eastern Europe, and many more.

In addition to her professorship at UC Berkeley, Tyson is also a member of the Board of Trustees at UC Berkeley's Blum Center for Developing Economies. The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world. Her current research and interests is focused on changes in the global economy, doing business in emerging market economies, and US trade policy. 

I did not know about Laura before I was assigned this alias, however, I was able to learn that her work is very important. Over her lifetime she has had many prestigious positions throughout her career to prove her importance and intelligence. Her knowledge about Economics is a very large range and therefore she has written many books, written many columns, and lectured many individuals over her career to share her knowledge. Her expertise will relate to the material we will be discussing in the course on a broader level, an international level. A lot of what Laura studied had to do with international economics and the organization for that is much different than on a smaller level. The behavior of international leaders can differentiate because they have different incentives and motivations. It will be interesting to see the differences in structure of the two and the difference in the level of difficulty.