Steven Pearlstein is the Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University and Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Washington Center.
For 35 years, Pearlstein wrote about economics and business for the Washington Post, winning the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for columns anticipating and explaining the recent financial crisis and global economic downturn. In 2011, he won the Gerald R. Loeb Award for lifetime achievement in business journalism. He has appeared frequently as a commentator on national television and radio programs.
Before joining the Post, Pearlstein was a newspaper reporter in New Hampshire, a TV reporter in Boston, a top aide to two members of Congress, and a senior editor at Inc. magazine. He was also the founding editor and publisher of the Boston Observer, a monthly journal of opinion.
At Mason, Pearlstein teaches undergraduate courses focused on economics and politics, including "How Washington Really Works," which is offered jointly by Mason and Penn. At Penn Washington, he directs the Fixing Congress Initiative.
Pearlstein grew up in Brookline, Mass., and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is a father of two and grandfather of four and lives in Washington with his wife, Wendy Gray.
