As of July 1, Neenan Prof. James Anderson has stepped down as chairperson, and Prof. Don Cox is the department's new leader. Cox is a specialist in labor economics with strong
interests in intergenerational transfers, biology and economics, and economic development. He has the distinction to be the first Boston College graduate to lead the department, receiving his bachelor's degree from BC in 1975 and earning the Ph.D. from Brown University in 1980. His first professional position was at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 1980-1981.
Cox was an assistant professor of economics at Washington University, St. Louis, from 1981-1987, and joined the Boston College faculty in 1987. He was promoted to Professor in 1995. Cox has served as a consultant to the World Bank since 1986. He has been one of the most successful members of the department in terms of sponsored research, receiving support from the NSF from 1986-1989 and from the National Institutes of Health from 1981-91, 1996-2000, and 2003-08.
His publications include articles in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Human Resources, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Development Economics, Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, and Review of Economics and Statistics, as well as numerous book chapters and several Handbook entries.