Jo Anna Gray

PLC 474; 541-346-4667; jgray@uoregon.edu

Biographical Information

Jo Anna Gray, Professor, received a B.A. in Economics in 1971 from Rockford College, and an M.A. in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of Chicago. She joined the UO faculty in 1989.

Research Interests

Jo Anna Gray is interested primarily in explanations of the business cycle and the role of money and the financial sector in affecting real activity. In earlier theoretical work she explores the affects of wage indexation (cost-of-living clauses) on macroeconomic performance. In subsequent empirical work, Professor Gray evaluates the performance of models in which monetary policy can affect output and employment and finds support for this class of models. In more recent work, Professor Gray explores the role that credit plays in transmitting changes in the money supply to output and employment. An empirical study of leading indicators (joint with Mark Thoma) shows that none of the commonly employed measures of monetary policy contain incremental information useful in predicting real economic activity. Other current interests include modelling the macroeconomic and allocation effects of the banking sector, deposit insurance and prudential supervision.

Teaching

Professor Gray teaches core macroeconomic theory and advanced macroeconomics at the graduate level. At the undergraduate level she teaches intermediate macroeconomic theory, money and banking, and monetary theory and policy.