Karl "Chip" Case, economist and co-creator of the Standard & Poors Case-Shiller Index, has joined the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University as a senior fellow.

"We are delighted that Chip has agreed to join the Joint Center team," said managing director Eric Belsky. "Chip has unique insights into how housing markets operate. In his role as senior fellow he will bring those insights and his ideas for fresh, new ways to analyze housing markets to the Joint Center."

Case is professor of economics at Wellesley College where he taught for more than 30 years, according to a statement. He is also a founding partner of real estate research firm Fiserv Case Shiller Weiss Inc. and serves as a member of the boards of directors of the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. and the Depositors Insurance Fund of Massachusetts.

"I’m honored by the opportunity to work with an organization of the Joint Center’s caliber," said Case. "In the last decade, the U.S. housing market has exhibited unprecedented volatility, and it lies at the root of the very serious problems facing the broader macro economy today. We need to understand the causes and the consequences of this volatility, and I am looking forward to being part of the Joint Center’s important research going forward."