Alan has taught at Princeton University since 1971. He founded and is the director of Princeton’s Center for Economic Policy Studies. Alan is also a partner in Promontory Financial Group, the vice chairman of the Promontory Interfinancial Network, and the vice chairman of the G7 Group.

He has also served as vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. In this capacity, Alan represented the Fed at various international meetings, and he was a member of the Board's committees on Bank Supervision and Regulation, Consumer and Community Affairs, and Derivative Instruments. Additionally, he served as a member of President Clinton's original Council of Economic Advisers. Alan oversaw the Clinton administration's macroeconomic forecasting, and he worked extensively on the budget, international trade, and health care issues. During the 2000 presidential campaign, he served as Al Gore’s chief economic adviser.

Alan is the author or co-author of 15 books, and many scholarly articles on topics such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, and the distribution of income. Currently, he is a regular commentator on PBS’s Nightly Business Report and he appears frequently on CNBC, and CNN. He has testified many times before Congress on a wide variety of public policy issues.

Alan earned an A.B. at Princeton University, a M.Sc. at London School of Economics, and a PhD at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—all in economics.