Introduction to the James Berkovec Memorial Issue

Abstract

Jim Berkovec’s interest in applied economics spanned a broad subject range. His work reflected a keen ability to address timely and significant issues of public policy via the application of cutting-edge econometric methods and data. Some of his earliest research on energy and transportation economics was motivated in part by the late-1970s spike in energy costs and the challenge of delivering cost-effective travel. His early research interests covered fuelefficient vehicles and residential energy demand (such as for heating and appliances) and culminated in his dissertation on the automobile market. His early peer-reviewed publications emanated from that work and subsequently James Berkovec evolved into an interest in the effects of macroeconomic fluctuations on housing consumption and investment. While in the Division of Research and Statistics of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, his research moved toward labor market issues and the economics of failed banks, an important issue in the aftermath of the widespread failures of banks and savings-institutions during the late 1980s and early 1990s. By the early 1990s, he also began to work on issues surrounding racial discrimination in mortgage lending and published a series of influential papers on that topic. Further, it was through that work that Jim became a recognized expert in empirical methods of mortgage performance, notably including models of mortgage default and prepayment. Jim further deepened his expertise in