About Evan

Curriculum Vitae

Evan completed his PhD at Harvard University in fall of 2013. He received his MA in Political Economy and Public Policy and his BA in Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis in 2008. His research examines a variety of political economy, macroeconomics, finance and economic history issues. 

Evan's dissertation focused on how the Federal Reserve makes decisions with a particular emphasis on how the institutional structure has driven certain policy choices over time. Using this historical background, Evan also examines changes to staffing and internal procedures to better understand how management and personnel drive policy. Evan then utilizes this institutional knowledge to examine central bank rhetoric (so called "Fed speak") to see how different types of rhetoric create differential responses from equity markets. This examination of markets has yielded a great deal of investor insight as well as information about what types of signals from a bureaucratic institution are perceived as credible by market actors and the public at large.

In connection with his market oriented research on the Federal Reserve, Evan also founded Prattle Analytics LLC, a financial data company. As founder of Prattle Analytics, Evan has developed a means to utilize automated content analysis to examine central bank communications and generate the first commercially available quantitative "Fed Watching" data. In addition to selling this data to portfolio managers and finance professionals, Evan's analysis of this data has been featured on several investor oriented websites including Bloomberg News, Seeking Alpha, Yahoo News and Nasdaq. This material is also the central focus of Evan's forthcoming book, "How The Fed Moves Markets."

Aside from his economics and finance oriented work, Evan's other research has examined increased political polarization and the limitations of median voter theorem. This work has extensively utilized multidimensional spatial modeling and other formal analysis to provide a theoretical explanation and historical context to changes in modern politics. Evan has also used similar models to examine financial regulatory reform, international trade flows and currency wars.

Outside of his professional pursuits, Evan enjoys kayaking and hiking with his wife and their dog.