D.L. Thornton Economics is sad to report that Daniel L. Thornton, the founder of D.L. Thornton Economics, passed away after a brief illness on May 6, 2024.  Inquires regarding D.L. Thornton Economics or the many publications of Dr. Thornton may be addressed to Mrs. Carolyn Thornton.

Welcome to D.L. Thornton Economics, your source of accessible economic expertise. This expertise can take many different forms, but the premise is the same: Useful economic analysis and insight can be straightforward.

D.L. Thornton Economics is a source of accessible economic expertise. This expertise can take many different forms, but the premise is always the same: Useful economic analysis and insight can be straightforward.

Dr. Thornton is a Ph.D. economist who conducts economic research on a range of topics, especially economic policy. He provides consulting services to private and public organizations and speaks to a broad array of audiences. He was vice president and economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis before retiring on July 31, 2014.

During his 33-year career at the St. Louis Fed, he published over 100 articles in the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review and scholarly journals such as the Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, the Journal of Banking and Finance, the Review of Financial Studies, and the Journal of Financial Economics. In addition, he has written numerous essays on a variety of topics, most recently on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy since the beginning of the financial crisis. He is ranked in the top 3% of economists worldwide by Research Papers in Economics, RePEc.

He has presented his work at many of the world’s central banks. Dr. Thornton is a stanch supporter of economic education and is a member of the Board of the St. Louis Council on Economic Education and a Trustee of the Missouri Council on Economic Education.

Dr. Thornton is an excellent speaker with a knack for presenting complex and arcane economic ideas in simple, understandable terms. He has spoken about monetary and fiscal policy, social security, government debt, and many more topics to wide range of civic organizations and non-economic audiences. He is independent minded and is not afraid to take a view that is at odds with conventional wisdom. His independent views are reflected in the titles of two of his recent publications: “The Federal Reserve’s Response to the Financial Crisis: What It Did and What It Should Have Done” and “Monetary Policy: Why Money Matters, and Interest Rates Don’t.” He has been a vocal critic of the motivation for and efficacy of the Federal Reserve’s so-called unconventional monetary policies and is currently writing a Cato Institute Policy Report titled, “A Requiem for QE.”