Peter Blair Henry Joins the Hoover Institution and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
A former senior fellow at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Henry is reprising his roles at FSI and the Hoover Institution to continue his groundbreaking research on economic reforms and the global economy.
Academic economist and policy advisor Peter Blair Henry is to be jointly appointed to the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), both at Stanford University, effective September 2022. Henry will be named the Class of 1984 Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow at FSI.
The appointments mark Henry’s return to Stanford from the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business, where he is the William R. Berkley Professor of Economics and Finance, and dean emeritus. The youngest person to serve as dean, he raised more funds in his tenure than any prior dean and established the NYU Breakthrough Scholars Leadership Program.
Condoleezza Rice, director of the Hoover Institution, said: “We look forward to welcoming Peter back to Stanford. The impact of his distinguished research on the global economy, together with the integrity of his leadership, particularly in generating greater access to higher education, align with Hoover’s mission to better understand and address the challenges free societies and economies face, with the goal of improving the human condition.”
The Hoover senior fellowship is made possible thanks to the generosity of six Stanford University class of 1984 alumni: Susan McCaw, Paul Barber, B.J. Beal, Jim Fleming, John Kleinheinz, and Tom Nelson.
Michael McFaul, director of the Freeman Spogli Institute, said: “I cannot believe our good fortune that we have managed to convince Peter to come back to FSI, where he was a senior fellow before leaving for NYU. His research interest fits perfectly with the mission of our Center for Democracy, Development, and Rule of Law, and our students have no idea how lucky they will be to have Peter in the classroom.”
Henry has published groundbreaking articles in top economics journals that evaluate the impact of economic reform on asset prices, investment, wages, and economic growth. His current research on the global infrastructure challenge builds on the scholarship in his book Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth (Basic Books, 2013), which addresses economic efficiency as well as international relations, with the aim of increasing awareness of the interconnected fortunes of advanced and developing nations.
Henry taught economics at Stanford from 1997 to 2009. He was a national fellow of the Hoover Institution from 2000 to 2001. At Stanford, his research was funded by an NSF CAREER Grant from 2001 to 2006, and in 2005 he became the first African American professor to earn tenure at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where, from 2008 to 2010, he was the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics. Henry holds a PhD in economics (MIT, 1997), a BA in mathematics as a Rhodes Scholar (Oxford, 1993), and a BA with distinction, highest honors, and Phi Beta Kappa in economics (UNC Chapel Hill, 1991).
A vice chair of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Economic Club of New York, Henry received the 2021 Impactful Mentor Award from the American Economic Association for his founding and continued leadership of the PhD Excellence Initiative. A member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships from 2009 to 2017, he also received the Foreign Policy Association Medal in 2015, the Carnegie Foundation Great Immigrant Award in 2016, and the Council on Economic Education Visionary Award in 2018.
