Council of Economic Advisers
Encyclopedia
The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is an agency within the Executive Office of the President that advises the President of the United States
on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the objective empirical research for the White House
and prepares the annual Economic Report of the President
.
, who were confirmed on April 14, 2011. The previous Chair, Christina Romer
, resigned her post in September 2010.
The council's three members are nominated by the president and approved by the United States Senate
. The staff of the council includes about 20 academic economists, plus three permanent economic statisticians.
In 1949 a dispute broke out between Chairman Edwin Nourse and member Leon Keyserling
. Nourse believed a choice had to be made between "guns or butter" but Keyserling argued that an expanding economy permitted large defense expenditures without sacrificing an increased standard of living. In 1949 Keyserling gained support from powerful Truman advisors Dean Acheson
and Clark Clifford
. Nourse resigned as chairman, warning about the dangers of budget deficits and increased funding of "wasteful" defense costs. Keyserling succeeded to the chairmanship and influenced Truman's Fair Deal
proposals and the economic sections of National Security Council Resolution 68 that, in April 1950, asserted that the larger armed forces America needed would not affect living standards or risk the "transformation of the free character of our economy."
During the 1953-54 recession, the CEA, headed by Arthur Burns deployed non-traditional neo-keynesian interventions, which provided results later called the "steady fifties" wherein many families stayed in the economic "middleclass" with just one family wage-earner. The Eisenhower Administration supported an activist contracyclical approach that helped to establish Keynesianism as a possible bipartisan economic policy for the nation. Especially important in formulating the CEA response to the recession—accelerating public works
programs, easing credit, and reducing taxes—were Arthur F. Burns and Neil H. Jacoby
.
The 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Act required each administration to move toward full employment
and reasonable price stability within a specific time period. It has had the effect of making the CEA's annual economic report highly political in nature, as well as highly unreliable and inaccurate over the standard two or five year projection periods.
Other influential past members include:
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the objective empirical research for the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and prepares the annual Economic Report of the President
Economic Report of the President
The Economic Report of the President is a document published by the President of the United States' Council of Economic Advisers . Released in February of each year, the report reviews what economic activity was of impact in the previous year, outlines the economic goals for the coming year , and...
.
Organization
The current Chairman of the CEA is Alan Krueger, who was appointed by President Obama on August 29, 2011. The two other current Members of the CEA are Katharine Abraham and Carl ShapiroCarl Shapiro
Carl Shapiro is the Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the co-author, along with Hal Varian, of Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, published by the Harvard Business School Press...
, who were confirmed on April 14, 2011. The previous Chair, Christina Romer
Christina Romer
Christina D. Romer is the Class of 1957 Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration...
, resigned her post in September 2010.
The council's three members are nominated by the president and approved by the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. The staff of the council includes about 20 academic economists, plus three permanent economic statisticians.
Current staff
- Chair: Alan Krueger
- Members: Katharine Abraham, Carl ShapiroCarl ShapiroCarl Shapiro is the Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the co-author, along with Hal Varian, of Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, published by the Harvard Business School Press...
- Chief EconomistChief economistThe Chief Economist is a single position job class having primary responsibility for the development, coordination, and production of economic and financial analysis...
: Judy Hellerstein - Director of Macroeconomic Forecasting: Steven N. Braun
- Senior Economists:
- Gene Amromin: Housing, Tax, and Budget
- Lee Branstetter: International Trade
- Tom Buchmueller: Health
- Lisa D. Cook: International Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation
- Benjamin Harris: Tax, Budget, and Retirement
- Rob Johansson: Environment, Energy, and Agriculture
- Craig Peters: Innovation, Regulation, and Industry
- Chuck Pierret: Labor
- Daniel Vine: Macroeconomics
- Staff Economists:
- Jeff Borowitz
- Colleen Carey
- David Cho
- Judd Cramer
- Reid Stevens
- Research Economists:
- Julia Yoo
- Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez
- Research Assistants
- Matt Aks
- Sandra Levy
- Carter Mundell
- Seth Werfel
- Statistical Office
- Adrienne T. Pilot, Director
- Statistical Office Analysts: Brian Amorosi & Lindsay Kuberka
History
The council was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide presidents with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. In its first seven years the CEA made five technical advances in policy making, including the replacement of a "cyclical model" of the economy by a "growth model," the setting of quantitative targets for the economy, use of the theories of fiscal drag and full-employment budget, recognition of the need for greater flexibility in taxation, and replacement of the notion of unemployment as a structural problem by a realization of a low aggregate demand.In 1949 a dispute broke out between Chairman Edwin Nourse and member Leon Keyserling
Leon Keyserling
Leon Hirsch Keyserling was an American economist and lawyer. During his career he helped draft major pieces of New Deal legislation and advised President Harry S. Truman as head of the Council of Economic Advisers....
. Nourse believed a choice had to be made between "guns or butter" but Keyserling argued that an expanding economy permitted large defense expenditures without sacrificing an increased standard of living. In 1949 Keyserling gained support from powerful Truman advisors Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
and Clark Clifford
Clark Clifford
Clark McAdams Clifford was an American lawyer who served United States Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, serving as United States Secretary of Defense for Johnson....
. Nourse resigned as chairman, warning about the dangers of budget deficits and increased funding of "wasteful" defense costs. Keyserling succeeded to the chairmanship and influenced Truman's Fair Deal
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was the term given to an ambitious set of proposals put forward by United States President Harry S. Truman to the United States Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. The term, however, has also been used to describe the domestic reform agenda of the Truman...
proposals and the economic sections of National Security Council Resolution 68 that, in April 1950, asserted that the larger armed forces America needed would not affect living standards or risk the "transformation of the free character of our economy."
During the 1953-54 recession, the CEA, headed by Arthur Burns deployed non-traditional neo-keynesian interventions, which provided results later called the "steady fifties" wherein many families stayed in the economic "middleclass" with just one family wage-earner. The Eisenhower Administration supported an activist contracyclical approach that helped to establish Keynesianism as a possible bipartisan economic policy for the nation. Especially important in formulating the CEA response to the recession—accelerating public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
programs, easing credit, and reducing taxes—were Arthur F. Burns and Neil H. Jacoby
Neil H. Jacoby
Neil Herman Jacoby was a university professor and public servant and was widely recognized as an expert on matters of taxation, finance, economic policy, and business-government relationships.-Early life:...
.
The 1978 Humphrey-Hawkins Act required each administration to move toward full employment
Full employment
In macroeconomics, full employment is a condition of the national economy, where all or nearly all persons willing and able to work at the prevailing wages and working conditions are able to do so....
and reasonable price stability within a specific time period. It has had the effect of making the CEA's annual economic report highly political in nature, as well as highly unreliable and inaccurate over the standard two or five year projection periods.
Past chairs and members
Past chairs include:- Austan GoolsbeeAustan GoolsbeeAustan Dean Goolsbee is an American economist, formerly serving as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the youngest member of the cabinet of President Barack Obama. Goolsbee is from the University of Chicago where he is the Robert P...
2010-2011 - Christina RomerChristina RomerChristina D. Romer is the Class of 1957 Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration...
2009-2010 - Edward LazearEdward LazearEdward Paul "Ed" Lazear is an award-winning American economist, considered the founder of personnel economics, and was the chief economic advisor to President George W. Bush.-Career:...
2006-2009 - Ben S. BernankeBen BernankeBen Shalom Bernanke is an American economist, and the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as Chairman, Bernanke has overseen the response of the Federal Reserve to late-2000s financial crisis....
2005-2006 - Harvey S. RosenHarvey S. RosenHarvey S. Rosen is the John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy at Princeton University. His research focuses on public finance. He attended the University of Michigan for his undergraduate studies and Harvard University for graduate studies...
2005 - N. Gregory MankiwN. Gregory MankiwNicholas Gregory "Greg" Mankiw is an American macroeconomist and Professor of Economics at Harvard University. Mankiw is known in academia for his work on New Keynesian economics....
2003-2005 - R. Glenn HubbardGlenn Hubbard (economics)R. Glenn Hubbard is an American economist. He is Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he is also Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics. Hubbard was Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S...
2001-2003 - Martin Neil BailyMartin Neil BailyMartin Neil Baily is an economist at the Brookings Institution and formerly at the Peterson Institute. He is best known for his work on productivity and competitiveness and for his tenure as a cabinet member during the Clinton Administration...
1999-2001 - Janet YellenJanet YellenJanet Louise Yellen is an American economist and professor, who is currently the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System...
1997-1999 - Joseph E. StiglitzJoseph E. StiglitzJoseph Eugene Stiglitz, ForMemRS, FBA, is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences and the John Bates Clark Medal . He is also the former Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank...
1995-1997 (member from 1993-1995) - Laura D'Andrea Tyson 1993-1995
- Michael J. BoskinMichael BoskinMichael Jay Boskin is the T. M. Friedman Professor of Economics and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He also is Chief Executive Officer and President of Boskin & Co., an economic consulting company.Boskin holds B.A. with highest honors, M.A., and Ph.D...
1989-1993 - Beryl W. Sprinkel 1985-1989
- Martin FeldsteinMartin FeldsteinMartin Stuart "Marty" Feldstein is an economist. He is currently the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and the president emeritus of the National Bureau of Economic Research . He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the NBER from 1978 through 2008...
1982-1984 - Murray L. Weidenbaum 1981-1982
- Charles L. SchultzeCharles SchultzeCharles L. Schultze is a United States economist and public policy analyst. He served as chairman of the United States Council of Economic Advisers during the Carter Administration. In the 1960s Schultze was appointed assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget by President John F...
1977-1981 - Alan GreenspanAlan GreenspanAlan Greenspan is an American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006. He currently works as a private advisor and provides consulting for firms through his company, Greenspan Associates LLC...
1974-1977 - Herbert SteinHerbert SteinHerbert Stein was a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and was on the board of contributors of The Wall Street Journal. He was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Nixon and President Ford. From 1974 until 1984, he was the A...
1972-1974 - Paul W. McCracken 1956-1959 (member); 1969–1971
- Arthur M. OkunArthur Melvin OkunArthur Melvin "Art" Okun was an American economist. He served as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers between 1968 and 1969...
1968-1969 - Gardner AckleyGardner AckleyGardner Ackley also known as H. Gardner Ackley, was an American economist and diplomat.He served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President John F. Kennedy, and as the Chairman under President Lyndon B. Johnson between 1964 and 1968...
1964-1968 - Walter W. HellerWalter HellerWalter Wolfgang Heller was a leading American economist of the 1960s, and an influential advisor to President John F. Kennedy as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, 1961-64....
1961-1964 - Raymond J. SaulnierRaymond J. SaulnierRaymond Joseph Saulnier was an American economist, who was Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1956 to 1961 under President Dwight David Eisenhower. He was born in Hamilton, Massachusetts....
1956-1961 - Arthur F. BurnsArthur F. BurnsArthur Frank Burns was an American economist. He served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1970 to 1978.- Career :...
1953-1956 - Leon H. KeyserlingLeon KeyserlingLeon Hirsch Keyserling was an American economist and lawyer. During his career he helped draft major pieces of New Deal legislation and advised President Harry S. Truman as head of the Council of Economic Advisers....
1949-1950 (acting chair); 1950–1953 - Edwin G. NourseEdwin Griswold NourseEdwin Griswold Nourse was an American economist. He served as the first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors between 1946 and 1949.-Biography:...
1946-1949
Other influential past members include:
- Karl M. Arndt
- John D. ClarkJohn D. ClarkJohn Drury Clark, Ph.D. was a noted American rocket fuel developer, chemist, and science fiction writer and fan. He was instrumental in the revival of interest in Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and influenced the writing careers of L. Sprague de Camp, Fletcher Pratt, and other authors.- Life and...
1946-1953 - Otto EcksteinOtto EcksteinOtto Eckstein was a German-born economist at Harvard University, member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1964 to 1968), and co-founder of Data Resources Inc. He received an A.B. from Princeton University and a Ph.D...
1964-1966 - Hendrik S. HouthakkerHendrik S. HouthakkerHendrik Samuel "Hank" Houthakker was a Dutch Jewish-born American economist.-Life and career:Houthakker was born in Amsterdam. His father was a prominent art dealer...
1969-1971 - Robert Z. LawrenceRobert Z. LawrenceRobert Zachary Lawrence , a former South African national, is the current Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a...
1999-2001 - William D. NordhausWilliam NordhausWilliam Dawbney "Bill" Nordhaus is the Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University. Nordhaus lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife Barbara.-Career:...
1977-1979 - James TobinJames TobinJames Tobin was an American economist who, in his lifetime, served on the Council of Economic Advisors and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and taught at Harvard and Yale Universities. He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics, and advocated government intervention to...
1961-1962 - Paul KrugmanPaul KrugmanPaul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
Early 1980s
External links
- Council of Economic Advisers home page
- Wall Street Journal report on forthcoming nominations
- Records of the Office of the Council of Economic Advisors, 1953-61, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Papers of Arthur F. Burns, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Papers of Raymond J. Saulnier, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library