Resumen de The Department OE labor at the intersection of research and policy

Alan B. Krueger

• A speech by Alan B. Krueger, former chair of the U.S. President's Council of Economic Advisers and former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor, is presented. It looks at the history of the U.S. Department of Labor, focusing on its effort to develop research, information, and evaluation strategies that can inform economic policy decisions. It suggests that academic economists typically focus their research on theoretical rather than applied economics questions and emphasizes the importance of the department's development of its own research capacity. Topics include graduate economics education, the (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC), and issues on which the author says further research is needed, including labor force participation rates.