Professor Nichols passed away in February 2013
Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Economics
Office: 2111 Van Hise Avenue
Phone: 608-233-4022
Fax: 608-233-4022
E-mail:
Donald Nichols is Professor Emeritus of Economics and Public Affairs. He served as Director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs from 2002-2006. His research is in the areas of macroeconomic theory and policy and regional economic policy. His work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, and Review of Economics and Statistics. His most recent contribution is a new definition of an export base for a regional economy, which appeared in International Regional Science Review.
Professor Nichols is an award-winning teacher and has played a prominent role in public affairs, nationally and in Wisconsin state. He served on the staffs of the Council of Economic Advisers to the U.S. president in 1963 and the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in 1975 and 1976. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1977 to 1979 and Economic Advisor to the Governor of Wisconsin from 1983 to 1986. He served on Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's Economic Advisory Council. He has been a member of the Thompson Plumb Funds board since 1987 and chairman since 2009. He serves on the academic advisory council of the Chicago Federal Reserve bank. Professor Nichols received his doctorate in Economics from Yale University.