Dr. Alan Ahearne

           J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics

I am a lecturer in economics at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. I also hold an appointment as a Non-Resident Research Fellow at Bruegel, the influential Brussels-based economics think tank, and am a Research Associate at the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College Dublin. I am Editor of the Policy Section of  The Economic and Social Review.

I am currently a Member of the Commission (Board) of the Central Bank of Ireland. I served as Special Advisor to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan from March 2009 to March 2011.

I joined NUI Galway in 2005. Prior to coming to Galway, I was Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, DC, where I worked for seven years. I have taught economics at Carnegie Mellon University, University College Dublin, Dublin City University, and the University of Limerick.  I began my professional career with Coopers & Lybrand and also worked for Bank of Ireland Group Treasury.

My areas of expertise are macroeconomics and international finance. My research includes studies on property markets in Ireland and other industrial countries; global current account imbalances and exchange rates; services sector growth; and the economic performance of the euro area. In addition to being published in top academic journals, my research has featured in The Economist, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Irish Times, and Sunday Business Post. I write a bi-weekly column on economics for the Irish Independent.  I have been a regular contributor on economic issues on the BBC, CNBC, RTE, Newstalk, and Today FM.

I hold a B.B.S. from the University of Limerick in 1989, an M.Econ.Sc. from University College Dublin in 1991 and an M.Sc. (1995) and a Ph.D. (1998), both in economics, from Carnegie Mellon University.  At Carnegie Mellon, I received several awards and honours, including the William Larimer Mellon Doctoral Fellowship (1993-1996) and the Excellence in Teaching Award (1997).  My Ph.D. dissertation advisor at Carnegie Mellon was Finn Kydland, winner of the Nobel Prize in economics in 2004. 

" The economist who told you so" is an Irish Times profile of me that was published in November 2008.

An earlier profile and interview, " Ex-Fed and the unexpected " appeared in Business & Finance in January 2006 (630 KB, PDF). I was also profiled in the Irish Examiner (12 May 2006).

I can be contacted by email at alan.ahearnenuigalway.ie .