Economists

Karel Mertens

Senior Economic Policy Advisor and Interim Director of Research
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Karel Mertens is a senior economic policy advisor and, as of 2024, the interim director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He joined the Dallas Fed in 2017.

His research interests include business cycles, fiscal policy, banking and monetary economics, empirical macroeconomics and time series econometrics. His recent work focuses on the macroeconomic effects of fiscal and credit policies.

Prior to joining the Bank, Mertens was an associate professor of economics at Cornell University. He is a research fellow at the Center of Economic Policy Research and a former research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Mertens is a native of Belgium and holds a Licentiaat in economics from Ghent University, an MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and a PhD in economics from the European University Institute.

Publications

“Marginal Tax Rates and Income: New Time Series Evidence,” with José Luis Montiel Olea, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 133, no. 4, November 2018, pp. 1803–84. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy008.
See also: NBER Working Paper no. 19171, June 2013, revised September 2017.
“The Macroeconomic Effects of Government Asset Purchases: Evidence from Postwar U.S. Housing Credit Policy,” with Andrew J. Fieldhouse and Morten O. Ravn, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, vol. 133, no. 3, August 2018, pp. 1503–60. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjy002.
See also: NBER Working Paper no. 23154, February 2017, revised July 2017.
“Fiscal Policy in an Expectations-Driven Liquidity Trap,” with Morten O. Ravn, The Review of Economic Studies, vol. 81, no. 4, October 2014, pp. 1637–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdu016.
“A Reconciliation of SVAR and Narrative Estimates of Tax Multipliers,” with Morten O. Ravn, Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 68, December 2014, pp. S1–S19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2013.04.004.
“The Dynamic Effects of Personal and Corporate Income Tax Changes in the United States,” with Morten O. Ravn, American Economic Review, vol. 103, no. 4, June 2013, pp. 1212–47. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.4.1212.
“Empirical Evidence on the Aggregate Effects of Anticipated and Unanticipated US Tax Policy Shocks,” with Morten O. Ravn, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, vol. 4, no. 2, May 2012, pp. 145–81. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.4.2.145.
See also: NBER Working Paper no. 16289, August 2010.
“Leverage and the Financial Accelerator in a Liquidity Trap,” with Morten O. Ravn, American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings, vol. 101, no. 3, May 2011, pp. 413–6. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.101.3.413.
“Understanding the Aggregate Effects of Anticipated and Unanticipated Tax Policy Shocks,” with Morten O. Ravn, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 14, no. 1, January 2011, pp. 27-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.red.2010.07.004.
“Measuring the Impact of Fiscal Policy in the Face of Anticipation: A Structural VAR Approach,” with Morten O. Ravn, The Economic Journal, vol. 120, no. 544, May 2010, pp. 393-413. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0297.2010.02361.x.
“Business Cycle Analysis and VARMA Models,” with Christian Kascha, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, vol. 33, no. 2, February 2009, pp. 267-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jedc.2008.05.006.
See also: Bank of Norway Working Paper 2008/5, April 2008.
“Deposit Rate Ceilings and Monetary Transmission in the US,” Journal of Monetary Economics, vol. 55, no. 7, October 2008, pp. 1290-302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2008.08.007.

Published Discussions

“Comment on ‘Macroeconomic Effects of the 2017 Tax Reform’,” by Robert J. Barro and Jason Furman Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2018, no. 1, Spring 2018, pp. 257–345.

Working Papers

“The Dynamic Effects of Personal and Corporate Income Tax Changes in the United States: Reply to Jentsch and Lunsford,” with Morten O. Ravn, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 1805, May 2018.
“The Near Term Growth Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 1803, March 2018.
“A Narrative Analysis of Mortgage Asset Purchases by Federal Agencies," with Andrew J. Fieldhouse, NBER Working Paper no. 23165, February 2017, revised July 2017.
“Credit Channels in a Liquidity Trap,” with Morten O. Ravn, March 2011.
“Regime Switching Interest Rates and Fluctuations in Emerging Markets,” with Bertrand Gruss, June 2009, revised December 2010.
“The Role of Expectations in Sudden Stops,” CAE Working Paper no. 07-10, July 2007.

Other Works

“Technology-Hours Redux: Tax Changes and the Measurement of Technology Shocks,” with Morten O. Ravn, NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2010, May 2011, pp. 41–76.
“The Research Agenda: Karel Mertens and Morten Ravn on Fiscal Policy, Anticipation Effects, Expectations and Crisis,” with Morten O. Ravn, Economic Dynamics Newsletter, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2011.