Professor of the Graduate School
Economic Analysis & Policy | Finance
About
Jim Wilcox is a Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Through 2021, he was Professor of Finance and Professor of Economic Analysis and Policy in the Haas School. His research interests include Federal Reserve policies and interest rates, banks’ lending, consumer attitudes and spending, credit unions, Islamic banking, and nonfinancial corporations’ internal capital markets. Wilcox originated Fannie Mae’s monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI).
Wilcox has served as the Chief Economist at the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, as a senior economist for monetary policy and macroeconomics at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and as an economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, all in Washington D.C. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Reserve Banks of San Francisco and Atlanta. Jim is a member of the Financial Economists Roundtable and is a Fellow of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center. Jim was a founding Fellow of the Filene Research Institute and has been President of the International Banking, Economics, and Finance Association.
At the Haas School, Wilcox teaches courses on macroeconomics and on banking.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Federal Reserve monetary policy and interest rates
- Banking
- Small business lending
- Unemployment and inflation
- Consumer attitudes and spending
- Credit unions
- Islamic banking
- Nonfinancial corporations’ internal capital markets
- James A.Wilcox, Yukihiro Yasuda. Government Guarantees of Loans to Small Businesses: Effects on Banks’ Risk-Taking and Non-Guaranteed Lending. Journal of Financial Intermediation.
2018 - James A. Wilcox. The Home Purchase Sentiment Index: A New Housing Indicator. Business Economics.
2015 - James A. Wilcox, John R. Krainer.. Regime Shifts in Real Estate Markets: Time-Varying Effects of the U.S. and Japanese Economies on House Prices in Hawaii. Real Estate Economics.
2013 - James A. Wilcox. A Way to Make People Buy Homes Again. The New York Times.
2012 - James A. Wilcox. Underwriting, Mortgage Lending, and House Prices: 1996 – 2008. Business Economics,.
2009
Positions Held
2022 – present, Professor of the Graduate School, Haas School of Business
1978 – present, Professor, Haas School of Business
2016 – present, Member, Financial Economists Roundtable
2014 – 2016, Member, Board of Directors, VirtualBeam, Inc.
2012 – present, Member, Board of Directors, Finance Scholars Group
2012 – 2015, Chair, Economic Analysis and Policy Group, Haas School of Business
2003 – present, Fellow, Wharton Financial Institutions Center
1999 – 2001, Chief Economist, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Washington, DC
1991 – 1992, Economist, Federal Reserve Board
1990 – 1991, Senior Economist, President’s Council of Economic Advisers
- Member, Advisory Board: North American Economics and Finance Association
- Treasurer and Member, Board of Directors, Cal State 9 Credit Union
- Economic and financial consulting
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching
1997
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching
1995
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching
1987
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- Millions of Californians could be eligible for DOGE stimulus checks — but will they really happen?, San Francisco Chronicle , 03/02/2025
- Bay Area businesses brace for tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China: Possible impact here, ABC7 News, 02/01/2025
- Strong consumer spending continues to bolster GDP, Marketplace, 11/02/2024
- Federal Reserve is poised to leave rates unchanged as it tracks progress toward a ‘soft landing’, Fox KTVU, 09/17/2023
- Fight over national debt limit moves to Congress, as deadline looms, Fox KTVU, 05/29/2023
- What it means if the U.S. defaults on its debt, KCBS, 05/11/2023
- Debt ceiling deadlock continues with next meeting set for Friday, Fox KTVU, 05/10/2023
- As banking sector teeters, could S.F.’s First Republic collapse next?, San Francisco Chronicle, 03/13/2023
- Continued inflation suggests recession is coming, professor predicts, Fox KTVU, 10/19/2022
- Economic concerns: Interview with Prof. James Wilcox, KTVU, 09/28/2022
- UC Berkeley economist explains impact of inflation report and stock market selloff, Fox KTVU, 09/14/2022
- Delayed raises and renovations: Small businesses face new uncertainties, The Washington Post, 08/15/2022
- How the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes affect your finances, Fox KTVU, 07/27/2022
- Gavin Newsom’s inflation relief package could drive up prices even more, experts say, The Sacramento Bee, 05/23/2022
- Macroeconomics, UGBA 101B