Bio

Biography

John Fernald is the Schroders Chair in European Competitiveness and Reform and a Professor of Economics at INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France. Mr. Fernald’s research has been regularly cited in the business and academic press. The Economist called Mr. Fernald "…the foremost authority on American productivity figures,” and The Wall Street Journal referred to Mr. Fernald as “the Fed’s point man on productivity.” Mr. Fernald’s research focuses primarily on applied macroeconomics, U.S. and global productivity trends, and emerging Asia.  

Until 2024, he was also a senior policy adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; he previously served as vice president and team leader for the macroeconomics research group. Among his responsibilities, he advised the Bank President on monetary policy and regularly attended meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee. Mr. Fernald has also served at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (where he was the desk officer for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan), and as senior economist for international economics at the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers. 

At INSEAD, Mr. Fernald teaches the macroeconomics core course in the MBA and GEMBA program and presents on the global macroeconomic environment for executives.  He has previously taught macroeconomics at the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Wharton as well as at INSEAD. He speaks frequently at central banks, international institutions, business organizations, and academic conferences around the world. 

Mr. Fernald received A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Harvard University and an M.Sc. degree in economics from the London School of Economics. His research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review, Journal of Monetary Economics, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, and the NBER Macroeconomics Annual.  He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), and he is vice chair of the Euro Area Business Cycle Dating Committee.