Ulrich Büschelmann :
Cook was a visiting professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and at Harvard Business School from 1997 to 2002, where she was associate director for Africa studies at the Harvard Center for International Development. From 2000 to 2001, she was a senior advisor for finance and development at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow. From 2002 to 2005, she was a national fellow and research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Cook advised the Nigerian government on its banking reforms in 2005 and the government of Rwanda on economic development. In 2005, Cook came to Michigan State University as an assistant professor, where she was promoted to full professor in 2013. From August 2011 to August 2012, she served as a senior economist in the Obama administration's Council of Economic Advisers.
Earlier in her career, Cook's research focused on international economics, particularly the Russian economy. Later, she expanded her research on economic growth to focus on the economic history of African Americans. Her research suggested that violence against African Americans under Jim Crow laws resulted in fewer patents being filed than expected. Together with other economists, she compiled a long-standing database on lynchings in the United States.
Since 2016, she has directed the American Economic Association's summer program for underrepresented minority students. Since 2019, she has served on the American Economic Association's Executive Committee.
In November 2020, Cook was appointed as a volunteer member of Joe Biden's presidential transition agency review team to support the transition regarding the Federal Reserve. In 2021, Senator Sherrod Brown reportedly urged the Biden administration to nominate Cook to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
2025-08-27 10:16:41