Sep 10 2010

Goolsbee: Chair Council of Economic Advisors

(2 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Obama to Tap Goolsbee as Chair of Council of Economic Advisers

Administration sources tell ABC News that at the start of his press conference Friday morning, President Obama will formally announced that he is appointing University of Chicago economist Austan Goolsbee to be chair of his Council of Economic Advisers.

Goolsbee, 41, has already been confirmed by the Senate to serve as one of the three economists on the CEA; President Obama has the prerogative to appoint the chair. The former chair, Christina Romer, departed last week, returning to teach at the University of California at Berkeley. Goolsbee is also chief economist for the Presidential Economic Recovery Advisory Board. . . .

Goolsbee’s appointment will mean that all of the president’s top economic advisers — Goolsbee, National Economic Council director Larry Summers, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — are white men who graduated from Ivy League schools. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

(no, not sexist, elist at all)

Once called “Elliott Ness meets Milton Friedman” by comedian Jon Stewart, Goolsbee considers himself a data driven economist known for his expertise in tax policy and high-tech industries.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Exclusive – Austan Goolsbee Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Exclusive – Austan Goolsbee Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

2 comments

    • on 09/10/2010 at 05:54
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    • on 09/10/2010 at 20:04
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    From David Dayen’s article @ FDL:

    If Romer’s tenure on the CEA is any expectation, Goolsbee will spend his time there butting heads with Larry Summers and being stymied on getting his advice to the President.

    In fact, that may already be happening. Goolsbee spent a great deal of his early career at the University of Chicago doing academic work on R&D tax credit-style policies, and he found that they don’t really work as stimulus (pdf)……

    He then, according to Jason Furman, helped devise the economic strategy that the President rolled out this week, which includes as a centerpiece a permanent extension of the R&D tax credit. With a claim that it would create jobs.

    So he participated in his own humiliation, which is very Japanese of him.

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