Economists

Jim Dolmas

Assistant Vice President
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Jim Dolmas

Jim Dolmas is an assistant vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. His main research interests are in the field of macroeconomics, where he has worked on such topics as the costs associated with business cycles, the effectiveness of stabilization policy, inflation measurement, and the politico-economic determinants of inflation, taxation and immigration policy. His research has appeared in scholarly journals such as International Economic Review, Review of Economic Dynamics and Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control.

Dolmas developed and maintains the Dallas Fed’s Trimmed Mean PCE inflation rate. In addition to briefing the Bank’s president on national economic conditions, Dolmas writes monthly analyses of inflation data for the Bank’s website.

Dolmas holds a PhD in economics from the University of Rochester and a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics from the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Dallas Fed in June 2000, he taught economics at the undergraduate and graduate level at Southern Methodist University. He has also taught at the University of Rochester and the University of Texas in Austin.

Publications

“Two Measures of Core Inflation: A Comparison,” with Evan F. Koenig, Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Review, vol. 101, no. 4, 2019, pp. 245-258. https://doi.org/10.20955/r.101.245-58.
“Do Payment Systems Matter: A New Look,” with Joe Haslag, Journal of Finance and Economics, vol. 9, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-25.
“Campbell and Cochrane Meet Melino and Yang: Reverse Engineering the Surplus Ratio in a Mehra-Prescott Economy,” North American Journal of Economics and Finance, vol. 40, April 2017, pp. 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.najef.2017.01.006.
“On the Political Economy of Immigration and Income Redistribution,” with Gregory W. Huffman, International Economic Review, vol. 45, no. 4, November 2004, pp. 1129-1168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0020-6598.2004.00300.x.
“A Note on the Potential Pitfalls in Estimating a 'Wealth Effect' on Consumption from Aggregate Data,” Economics Letters, vol. 78, no. 3, March 2003, pp. 437-441. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-1765(02)00249-5.
“Inequality, Inflation, and Central Bank Independence,” with Gregory W. Huffman and Mark A. Wynne, Canadian Journal of Economics-Revue Canadienne D Economique, vol. 33, no. 1, February 2000, pp. 271-287. https://doi.org/10.1111/0008-4085.00015.
“The US Productivity Slowdown: A Peak Through the Structural Break Window,” with Baldev Raj and Daniel J. Slottje, Economic Inquiry, vol. 37, no. 2, April 1999, pp. 226-241. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1999.tb01427.x.
“Elastic Capital Supply and the Effects of Fiscal Policy,” with Mark A. Wynne, Economic Inquiry, vol. 36, no. 4, October 1998, pp. 553-574. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7295.1998.tb01736.x.
“Risk Preferences and the Welfare Cost of Business Cycles,” Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 1, no. 3, July 1998, pp. 646-676. https://doi.org/10.1006/redy.1998.0020.
“The Political Economy of Endogenous Taxation and Redistribution,” with Gregory W. Huffman, Economics Letters, vol. 56, no. 2, October 1997, pp. 223-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-1765(97)81904-0.
“Endogenous Growth in Multisector Ramsey Models,” International Economic Review, vol. 37, no. 2, May 1996, pp. 403-421. https://doi.org/10.2307/2527330.
“Balanced-Growth-Consistent Recursive Utility,” Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, vol. 20, no. 4, April 1996, pp. 657-680. https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1889(95)00869-1.
“Time-Additive Representations of Preferences When Consumption Grows Without Bound,” Economics Letters, vol. 47, no. 43894, March 1995, pp. 317-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1765(94)00566-k.

Working Papers

“Mobility and Engagement Following the SARS-Cov-2 Outbreak,” with Tyler Atkinson, Evan F. Koenig, Karel Mertens, Kei-Mu Yi, Christoffer Koch and Anthony Murphy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 2014, May 2020.
“The Politics of Flat Taxes,” with Daniel R. Carroll and Eric R. Young, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Working Paper No. 14-42R2, September 2019.
“What Do Majority-Voting Politics Say About Redistributive Taxation of Consumption and Factor Income? Not Much.,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 0814, 2008.
“Real Business Cycle Dynamics Under First-Order Risk Aversion,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 0704, 2007.
“Trimmed Mean PCE Inflation,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 0506, 2005.
“The Dynamics of Immigration Policy with Wealth-Heterogeneous Immigrants,” with Gregory W. Huffman, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 0006, 2000.
“On the Political Economy of Immigration,” with Gregory W. Huffman, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 9706, 1997.
“Specialization and the Effects of Transactions Costs on Equilibrium Exchange,” with Joseph H. Haslag, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 9703, 1997.
“An Exploration into the Effects of Dynamic Economic Stabilization,” with Gregory W. Huffman, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 9606, 1996.
“Fiscal Policy in More General Equilibrium,” with Mark A. Wynne, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Working Paper no. 9407, 1994.

Dallas Fed Publications

“Dallas Fed Mobility and Engagement Index Gives Insight into COVID-19’s Economic Impact,” with Tyler Atkinson, Christoffer Koch, Karel Mertens, Evan F. Koenig, Anthony Murphy and Kei-Mu Yi, Dallas Fed Economics, June 3, 2020.
“Another Benefit of Trimming: Smaller Inflation Revisions,” Dallas Fed Economics, August 6, 2019.
“Room to Grow? Inflation and Labor Market Slack,” with Evan F. Koenig, Dallas Fed Economics, May 30, 2019.
“Which Core to Believe? Trimmed Mean Versus Ex-Food-and-Energy Inflation,” with Evan F. Koenig, Dallas Fed Economics, May 28, 2019.
“Health Care Services Depress Recent PCE Inflation Readings,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Economic Letter, vol. 11, no. 11, 2016.
“Inflation Measurement Gives Us Food for Thought,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Economic Letter, vol. 6, no. 4, 2011.
“Excluding Items from Personal Consumption Expenditures Inflation,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Staff Papers, June 2009.
“On the Record: The Art and Science of Measuring Inflation: A Conversation with Jim Dolmas,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Southwest Economy, July/August 2008.
“Measuring Core Inflation: Notes from a 2007 Dallas Fed Conference,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Staff Papers, May 2008.
“A Fitter, Trimmer Core Inflation Measure,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Southwest Economy, May/June 2005.
“Globalization: Myths and Realities,” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Southwest Economy, September/October 2004.
“Monetary Policy in a Zero-Interest-Rate Economy,” with Evan F. Koenig, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Southwest Economy, July/August 2003.
“The National Economy: Heading for a Dip?” Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Southwest Economy, November/December 2002.