Meet the New McDonough Faculty: Renee Bowen

We are pleased to welcome new faculty members to the Georgetown McDonough community this fall. 

In our Meet the New McDonough Faculty Series, learn more about the interests, specialties, experiences, and personalities behind the talented academics inside the Rafik B. Hariri Building on Georgetown’s campus. 

We spoke with Renee Bowen (C’08), the Dean’s Professor of International Business and Global Affairs, about what she hopes to accomplish at Georgetown through her engagement with students, classroom teachings, and beyond.

What institution or previous line of work are you coming from?

Before joining the faculty at Georgetown, I worked at the University of California San Diego for seven years where I taught in the School of Global Policy and Strategy. I also founded the Center for Commerce and Diplomacy there and served as the director until 2023. Before the University of California San Diego, I taught economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. I held positions at the Hoover Institution, the World Bank, JPMorgan Securities, and the Inter-American Development Bank prior to joining academia. I am a proud Hoya myself and earned my Ph.D. in economics in 2008.

What are you most looking forward to about teaching at Georgetown McDonough?

Students at Georgetown are extraordinary individuals who will go on to make an immense impact on the world. It is a great privilege and honor to play a part in educating the next generation of global leaders, entrepreneurs, and social innovators.

What is your area(s) of expertise and which subject(s) are you most passionate about?

I am a theoretical economist working at the intersection of political economy, pure microeconomic theory, and international trade. I use models of dynamic games, collective choice, communication, and learning to study the efficient design of economic and political institutions. My work has shown that when public spending, such as Medicare or Social Security, is allocated by mandatory versus discretionary programs, it can improve efficiency in an environment with high political turnover. In other work, I demonstrate the inefficiency of veto rules when there are redistributive constraints. This provides guidance for the reform of international institutions, such as the World Trade Organization. 

In more recent work, I prove how misperception, low-quality information, and the abundance of shared news — observed with the explosion of the internet over the last three decades — can explain the divergence of beliefs about objective facts. What ties my research together is my unending passion to understand how economies and societies interact to deliver the social systems we see globally and provide guidance on how to improve.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy?

My objective in teaching is to bring the most relevant insights from my research, the broader economics literature, and the real world to bear on important topics students will grapple with in the world. I have more than 15 years of experience teaching microeconomic theory, political economy, and international trade to professional, undergraduate, and doctoral students. I enjoy teaching and understand that different methods of instruction are effective for different students. Post-pandemic teaching has been particularly challenging as students and instructors adjust to new modes of teaching, and students overcome learning gaps created by remote instruction. In this new environment, I continue to think creatively and explore new ways of delivering material that will inspire and create value for students. 

What is your favorite quote and why?

“I’m good” – Adam and Anna Lyn (my kids). I have learned (with some difficulty) that when Gen Z says “I’m good,” it translates to “no thank you” in Gen X speak. It reminds me how much I have to continually adapt to new ways of doing things and be mindful of vast differences in culture and language – not just across countries, regions, and backgrounds, but also across generations. 

What do you hope to bring to the McDonough community?

I hope to contribute to maintaining and improving the high quality of academic scholarship, and provide a climate conducive to learning and seeing students achieve goals they never thought possible.