From the Lab Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance Director's Message inside This Issue University of California, Santa Barbara

Director’s Message Two years ago, the donor of my chair, Jeffrey Henley, the chairman of the Oracle Corp., sprung the idea that UCSB ought to create an institute for macroeconomics. Our Chancellor, Henry Yang, liked the idea and has supported its creation financially and in other ways. The Laboratory for Aggregate Economics and Finance (LAEF) was established in July 2005. As you’ll see in this issue, we recruited an outside advisory board of first-rate scholars. LAEF is located in North Hall on the UCSB campus, in the vicinity of the Economics Department. It provides an environment in which to conduct topical research in quantitative aggregate theory by resident and visiting scholars.