Roosevelt Institute Announces Initial Six Good Life Residents

New York, NY—Today, the Roosevelt Institute, an economic policy think tank dedicated to advancing shared prosperity and power, announced its first six Good Life Residents. As a part of Roosevelt’s agenda for a good life–a set of policy priorities that raise incomes, reduce costs and empower people with the time and agency to access a good life– the program is a new initiative designed to develop emerging leaders and generate people-centered ideas across several of the Roosevelt Institute’s key economic policy priorities, with initial focus areas on Social Security financing and the powers and independence of the Federal Reserve.

The selected residents—Ethan Struby, Christian Flores, Erin Lockwood, Jonathan Schwabish, Tyler Bond, and Lena Simet—will contribute original research and analysis exploring how these foundational economic institutions can better support broad-based economic security.

Federal Reserve

Christian Flores is a joint JD and master in public affairs candidate at Harvard Law School and Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, where he works as a graduate research associate at the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy & Finance. Flores was previously an economist with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, prior to which he served as a special adviser to the chief economist on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, where he managed industrial strategy and macroeconomic initiatives.

Erin Lockwood is an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Irvine, where she has taught since 2017. Her work focuses on global financial markets and the international political economy of inequality. 

Ethan Struby is an assistant professor of economics at Carleton College, where he has taught since 2017. His research spans macroeconomics and monetary economics, with a focus on macrofinance, Treasury markets, and applied macroeconometrics. He received his PhD in economics from Boston College, where his dissertation examined the role of information in macroeconomics and finance.

Social Security 

Tyler Bond is a senior fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance. He previously served as the research director at the National Institute on Retirement Security and as program manager at the National Public Pension Coalition. Bond has more than a decade of experience directing national research efforts and a proven track record of translating complex social policy evidence into action for policymakers, advocates, and the public.

Jonathan Schwabish is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute and founder of PolicyViz, a firm specializing in data visualization and presentation skills. At Urban, he works as a researcher in the Tax and Income Supports Division and works on data visualization on the Communication team. His research focuses on nutrition and disability policy, and he is widely recognized for advancing accessible and effective policy communication. Schwabish earned a PhD and MA in economics from Syracuse University and an MA in economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Lena Simet is a senior advisor on social and economic policy at Human Rights Watch, where she leads work on social security and broader social protection systems. With more than 15 years of experience, she researches benefit adequacy, gender disparities in lifetime earnings, and the financing of social protection in the context of labor market transformation and inequality. She has authored numerous reports on retirement insecurity and labor precarity, and regularly consults on economic policy and global poverty reduction. She has a PhD in public and urban policy from The New School.

The Roosevelt Institute will soon announce calls for residents to focus on other elements of what makes a good life, including housing and AI policy. Each residency will culminate in an event designed to elevate new ideas and foster debate on national and state policy solutions that ensure a dignified life for all.

The Good Life Residents Program is housed within the Roosevelt Society (TRS), the Roosevelt Institute’s intergenerational community of more than 2,000 scholars, policymakers, organizers, and practitioners working to advance a democratic and equitable economy.

About the Roosevelt Institute

The Roosevelt Institute is a think tank and student network working to rebalance power in the economy and democracy. As the nonprofit partner to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Institute carries forward the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by producing ideas that shape public debate and investing in the next generation of leaders.