Ronald MacDonald (economist)

MacDonald holds a B.A. (Hons) degree from Heriot-Watt University, M.A. (Econ) and PhD from the University of Manchester. He has previously the Robert Fleming Professorial of Investment and Finance at the University of Dundee (1989-1992), Professor of International Finance at the University of Strathclyde from 1992 (formerly Professor of International Macroeconomics), the Bonar Macfie Chair of Economics, 2005-2006, Department of Economics University of Glasgow and the Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the Adam Smith Business School in the University of Glasgow from January 2006-2015. He has been a visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales, Australia, Queen's University, Canada, European University Institute, Florence, University of Cergy-Pontoise, Paris, ZEW, Mannheim, and Centre for Economic Studies, Munich.[2]

(1975 to 1978) BA, with First class Honours, in Economics at Heriot-Watt University[1]

(1978 to 1979) MA(Econ) in Economics at the University of Manchester[1]

(1979 to 1982) PhD in Economics at the University of Manchester[1]

(1982 to 1984) Midland Bank Fellow in Monetary Economics at Loughborough University[2]

(1984 to 1989) Lecturer and Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen[2]

(1989 to 1992) Robert Fleming Professor of Finance and Investment at the University of Dundee[2]

(1992 to 2004) Professor of International Finance at the University of Strathclyde, formerly Professor of International Macroeconomics[2]

(2005 to 2006) Bonar MacFie Chair of Economics University of Glasgow[1]

(2006 to 2015) Adam Smith Professor of Political Economy at the Adam Smith School of Economics and Finance in the University of Glasgow[1]

(2015 to present) Research Professor of Macroeconomics and International Finance in the at the Adam Smith Business School in the University of Glasgow.[1]

MacDonald has consistently been ranked amongst the top 1% of economists in the world by the IDEAS/RePEc ranking, and amongst the top 1% of all research in international finance and open economy macroeconomics.[3] He ranks amongst the top 6% of SSRN Top Economics authors.[4] With a wide range of interests focused around exchange rates through to macroeconomics and international finance, he has published over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals and authored or edited over 15 books. He has over 18,000 citations to his work recorded on Google Scholar[3]

MacDonald is an International Fellow at the Kiel Institute of Economics, and Research Fellow of the CESifo Research Network Munich and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 2002 to 2014.[1] Since 1996 he has been involved in successful Research Grant applications totalling over £2,000,000.[2]

MacDonald's current research interests span a range of topics in Macroeconomics (i.e. optimal monetary policy and the monetary transmission process; the role of FDIs, exchange rate misalignment, capital flows and corruption on economic growth; the sustainability of fiscal policy), International Finance (i.e. the determination of exchange rates and exchange rate forecasting; equilibrium exchange rate issues) and Finance (i.e. the determination of stock and bond prices and the term structure of interest rates). [2]

MacDonald's research on exchange rate modelling has been highly influential with many implications for policy-markers. The Behavioural Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER), developed jointly with Peter Clark at the International Monetary Fund, has been widely applied by central banks and financial researchers to assess the extent of mis-alignment between major world currencies. In terms of policy-based research, he has proposed phasing out the Barnett Formula in favour of fiscal autonomy in the Scottish Parliament.

• MacDonald, R. (1988). Floating Exchange Rates: Theories and Evidence. Published by Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group.
• MacDonald, R., and Taylor, M.P. (1989). Exchange Rates and Open Economy Macroeconomics.
• MacDonald, R., and Taylor, M.P. (1992). Exchange Rate Economics. Published by the LSE Centre for Labour Economics.
• MacDonald, R. (1995). Long-Run Exchange Rate Modelling: A Survey of the Recent Evidence. Published by the International Monetary Fund Research Department.
• MacDonald, R., and Pikoulakis, E. (1995). International Macroeconomics.
• MacDonald, R. (1997). Expectations Formation and Risk in Three Financial Markets: Surveying What the Surveys Say.
• MacDonald, R., and Chionis, D. (1997). Aggregate and Disaggregate Measures of the Foreign Exchange Risk Premium.
• MacDonald, R., and Myrvin, A. (1997). On the Mean-Reverting Properties of Target Zone Exchange Rates: Some Evidence from the ERM.
• MacDonald, R., and La Cour, L. (1997). Modelling the ECU Against the Dollar: A Structural Monetary Interpretation.
• MacDonald, R., and Stein, J.L. (1999). Equilibrium Exchange Rates. Published by Springer.
• MacDonald, R., and Marsh. (1999). Exchange Rate Modelling. Published by Springer
• MacDonald, R., and Hallwood, C.P. (2000). International Money and Finance (3rd Edition). Published by Wiley-Blackwell.
• MacDonald, R., and Clark, P.B. (2000). Filtering the BEER: A Permanent and Transitory Decomposition. Published by the International Monetary Fund Research Department
• MacDonald, R. (2007). Exchange Rate Economics: Theory and Evidence
• MacDonald, R., and Hallwood, P. (2009). The Political Economy of Financing Scottish Government: Considering a New Constitutional Settlement for Scotland.
• MacDonald, R. (2009). Exchange Rate Economics – Selected Essays. Published by Edward Elgar.