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Alice Rivlin Accomplishments

Alice Mitchell Rivlin (March 4th, 1931 to May 14th, 2019) was an American economist known for her contribution to economics and different fields. She was born in Philidelphia, moved to Europe when she was working on the Marshall Plan, which was created to help reconstruct the economies of Western European countries after World War 2. Although she got her bachelor's degree in arts, she stepped in the economics eventually with a Ph.D. degree at Harvard University in 1958. 

As written in abundant articles, Alice M. Rivlin was described as "the original economist mom," "economics intellectual," "first woman to lead to the White House budget office," and "an inspiration for generations of women economists." Back in the 1960s, the proportion of female economists was lower than 5 percent. The economics was field entirely male dominant. Has Rivlin entered the economics field with her revolutionary contributions, voice of female in economics would still had remained unheard.

She did not make it to beat cancer, passed away in 2019. In her eighty-eight years of living, she had been placed in prominent positions in institutions, organizations and the government, as a senior fellow of Economic Study at Brookings Institution, as the founder of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), as the chair of the Commission on Budget and Financial Priorities, and as a visiting professor at Georgetown University. In addition, she had her specialty in macroeconomics theory and U.S. federal budget.

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  1. While recently we also have had a woman serve as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board, I believe Alice Rivlin was the female economist who was most effective in government service. There have been a few others, but Rivlin really stands out for the role she played.

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