Sept. 2, 2009
Contact:
Renee DeGross Valdes, 404-413-1353
University Relations
Jenifer Shockley, 404-413-7078
Robinson College of Business
ATLANTA - Georgia State's J. Mack Robinson College of Business has named Glenn Harrison as the inaugural director of the new Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk (CEAR).
CEAR is a center created by the Robinson College of Business in conjunction with Georgia State's Andrew Young School of Policy Studies and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. It is the first research center of its kind with the goal of bringing worldwide economic experts together to find solutions for complex risk issues such as swine flu, tsunamis, poverty, or the banking crisis and how they affect the world's economy.
CEAR will further strengthen and expand the activities of Robinson College's already top 10 ranked Department of Risk Management and Insurance.
"We plan on exploring very forward-looking issues," Harrison said. "CEAR will be the place where risk is studied in a rigorous fashion with a clear eye to policy relevant work and consistency. Risk often is studied in one dimension. We want to bring the best risk researchers around the globe together to solve real world problems and look at ways to quantify things like systemic risk."
After receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, Harrison went on to obtain his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA, where also he received a master's degree. Harrison has published more than 140 academic papers on topics ranging from economics and law to international trade policy and public finance.
"Glenn is a true leader in the field of risk management," said H. Fenwick Huss, dean of the Robinson College of Business. "His multi-faceted background makes him ideal to spearhead the new CEAR initiative and create one of the foremost centers of its kind in the world."
According to Richard Phillips, chair of Robinson's Department of Risk Management and Insurance, where CEAR will be housed, "We are proud to have Glenn join the faculty of our top 10 ranked department. Having stellar faculty has been a hallmark of our program and Glenn only enhances that reputation."
Harrison, who also holds the C.V. Starr Chair and is a professor in the Department of Risk Management and Insurance, has worked at a number of universities during his career including the University of Western Ontario and the University of South Carolina. He joins CEAR and the Robinson College of Business from the University of Central Florida. As a consultant, Harrison has worked with The World Bank, the U.S. government, the government of Denmark, the Swedish Treasury Department, and the Harvard Institute for International Development among others. As a testifying expert, he was instrumental during the tobacco litigation and subsequent settlement in the 1990s.
Larry Wall, financial economist and policy advisor at the Atlanta Fed added, "because of the importance of the research that will be done by CEAR, the selection of an exceptional individual to lead the effort is critical. Glenn Harrison is such an individual."