SFSU Econ Jim Klein Work History

Economics Department

Jim Klein - Work History

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During grad school

While studying at the University of Washington I taught economics at various Community Colleges in the area, did consulting work for local firms, and taught one year at the University of Puget Sound.

I taught micro, macro, public finance, money and banking, and the history of economic analysis.

During this period, I also began a trust advisory business that continues to this day, advising clients on a wide range of trust issues and asset management programs.

With the introduction of interest rate futures in the late 1970s, I found a way to use the expertise I'd gained from my economics studies to make money. This skill would lure me to the bond market, where his working career began.

First Job

While working on his doctor's degree I began trading interest rate futures for my own account and that of clients. As students will learn, there are opportunities to make money in interest rate futures for the economist.

Interest rate futures were a new financial instrument and the market was just learning how to use them. For an economist, trained in interest rates and monetary theory, futures provided an easy way to take advantage of a bear market.

From bond trading it was an easy jump to asset/liability management and mortgage banking.

I've has also been a trust advisor for over 30 years.

Subsequent employment

From there I was hired by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, then Citibank, and Home Owners Federal Savings, where I was recruited to purchase and manage a thrift in Nevada. The stock markiet crash of 1987 ended that dream.

Professional Activities

From there it was an easy step to starting my own mortgage banking company, which I've successfully managed for the last 15 years.

Return to Academia

In March of 2005, I was encouraged to return to academia by a letter from James Buchanan, praising an insight I'd had regarding a tax-maximizing government. Following a paper at the WEA convention in San Diego in 2006, I was hired by the Economics Department as a Lecturer.

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