Dr. Mike Kuehlwein received his B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College in 1980, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics from M.I.T. in 1988. In the fall of 1987 he started teaching in the economics department at Pomona College, where he is now the George E. and Nancy O. Moss Professor of Economics. In 1991-92, he was a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. In 1998-99 he was a visiting professor at the University of California at Irvine. He has also taught at Claremont Graduate University.
Mike has taught courses in macroeconomics, statistics, money and banking, security valuation, and growth. His main original research area was theories of consumer spending and saving. He published and presented several articles in that field. Currently he is working on several projects including the impact of railroads, telegraphs, and post offices on market integration in 19th-century British India, and why Americans have too much withheld with their paychecks for income taxes, so that they receive large refund checks.
He has five times won the Wig Distinguished Teaching Award at Pomona College. His important service to Pomona College includes a stint as a faculty resident in a college dormitory, chair of the Executive Committee and two terms as chair of the Economics Department, a position he holds now.