COVID-19 and the Economy

About the Speakers

Morgan Ackley

Ackley is an economic education advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In her role, she supports educators across the Eleventh District with professional development trainings and writes curriculum for educators in the areas of economics, finance, and college and career education. Ackley started her career in Woodinville, Washington, as a high school teacher and college and career counselor. She taught classes in AP microeconomics, AP macroeconomics, business, marketing and finance. Prior to joining the Dallas Fed, Ackley was a teacher in the Frisco Independent School District. Ackley holds a masters in economics and entrepreneurship education from the University of Delaware.

Susan Kizer

Kizer is a senior outreach advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Her work focuses on outreach to organizations and individuals within the Eleventh District, concentrating on professional development for educators. Innovative programs including Freedom Riders, Student Board of Directors, History through an Economic Lens, and 100 Teens have been the hallmark of her work at the Fed. Responding to educator and student needs, Kizer coauthored Navigate: Exploring College and Careers, The Federal Reserve, Everyday Economics and a scope and sequence for the Texas Personal Financial Literacy Social Studies course. She has served as the ExxonMobil Executive in Residence at Lamar University, providing important economic information on monetary policy and the role of the central bank. Presentations for the Texas Council for the Social Studies and National Council for the Social Studies have included the gold standard, energy, globalization, immigration and financial literacy. She serves on the boards of the Texas Council for Economic Education, Texas Jump Start and also on the Texas State CTE Advisory Board.

Jason Saving

Jason Saving is a public finance and regional economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. In this position, he conducts research on issues including tax reform, regional migration, income inequality and the interplay between political polarization and fiscal policy. His articles have appeared in scholarly journals such as Economic Inquiry, Southern Economic Journal and the National Tax Journal.

Saving holds a BA in mathematical economic analysis from Rice University and MA and PhD degrees in economics from the California Institute of Technology. He has taught economics and business courses at George Mason University, the University of Texas at Dallas and Baylor University’s executive MBA program in Dallas.

Kei-Mu Yi

Kei-Mu Yi is senior vice president in the Research Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He joined the Dallas Fed in July 2019. He is on leave from the University of Houston, where he is the M.D. Anderson Professor of Economics. He is also a research associate with the International Trade and Investment, and International Finance and Macroeconomics programs at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Previously, he held positions with the Federal Reserve Banks of New York, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. In Philadelphia, he was head of the macro section, and, in Minneapolis, he was senior vice president and director of research and, subsequently, special policy adviser to the bank president. Earlier, he was an assistant professor of economics at Rice University. Yi received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.

John Duca

Duca is a vice president in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, where he conducts research in macroeconomics and finance. He has been with the Bank since 1991. Duca has given numerous briefings on the economy to the Bank’s president and board of directors. He has published more than 75 articles on money, credit, wages and housing in scholarly journals and Bank publications. Much of this research analyzes how innovations have altered economic relationships relevant to the macroeconomy and monetary policy.

From 1986 to 1991, Duca was a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Board, where he briefed former chairmen Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker and other Fed policymakers. Additionally, he was a part-time lecturer at the University of Maryland. He is currently a professor at Oberlin College. He is also a vice president of the International Banking, Economics, and Finance Association. He holds a BA from Yale University and a PhD in economics from Princeton University.