Lawrence B. Lindsey

Lawrence B. Lindsey was sworn in as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on November 25, 1991. He left the Board of Governors on February 5, 1997.

Lindsey was born in Peekskill, New York. In 1976, he graduated from Bowdoin College with a bachelor’s degree. He went on to earn a master’s degree in 1981 and a doctorate in 1985, both in economics at Harvard University. Lindsey served in several academic roles at Harvard, including teaching fellow (1978–81), instructor (1984–85), assistant professor (1985–88), and associate professor (1988–90). In addition, he administered the introductory program from 1984 to 1989 and taught American economic policy from 1987 to 1988.

Outside of academia, Lindsey held several positions in the public sector. In 1978, he accepted a position as a research assistant at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 1981, he joined the staff of the Council of Economic Advisers. In his three years there, he served in several functions, including junior staff economist, public finance; staff economist, taxation; and senior staff economist, tax policy. In 1984, he returned to the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he worked as a faculty research fellow until 1989.

Before joining the Board of Governors, Lindsey also served in two roles at the White House. From 1989 to 1990, he worked as associate director for domestic economic policy. In 1991, he was elevated to the position of special assistant to the president for policy development. 

In the fall of 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated Lindsey to serve on the Board of Governors. During his tenure, Lindsey delivered several noteworthy speeches, including "Regulatory Burden for a Regulator's Perspective," "Central Banking in a Democracy: Balancing Independence and Accountability," and "Where are Consumers Getting Their Money?"

Additionally, he served as chairman of the board of directors of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, a national public/private community redevelopment organization, from 1993 until the end of his term at the Board of Governors. 

In 1997, Lindsey joined the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, as a resident scholar and holder of the Arthur F. Burns chair in economics. He also became managing director of Economic Strategies, an economic advisory service based in New York City.

Currently, Lindsey serves as the chief executive officer of the Lindsey Group, a global economic advising firm. In addition, he works as a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and writes for the Wall Street Journal, the Weekly Standard, and other publications. He is the author of numerous articles as well as three books: The Growth Experiment, Economic Puppet Masters, and What a President Should Know… but Most Learn Too Late.

Lindsey has performed consulting services in the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. He is a member of the National Tax Association and the American Economic Association.

Written by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. See disclaimer.