Council of Economic Advisers, Chairman

Department/Agency: Council of Economic Advisers

Position:

Chairman

Executive Schedule: Executive Level II - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation

Major Responsibilities:

• Helps formulate the President’s economic policy
• Writes the annual Economic Report of the President 
• Advises the President on wide range of national economic issues 
•  Prepares the five-year economic forecast
• Serves as the senior economist in the Administration

Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:

Insight:

The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide the President with objective economic advice and analysis on the development and implementation of domestic and international economic policy issues. The President appoints three members to his Council of Economic Advisers and designates one as chairman. The CEA is located within the White House as part of the Executive Office of the President. 

The CEA has a small professional staff with unusual characteristics. Ten economists, usually professors on leave from their universities for one or two years, serve as the senior staff economists. They are assisted by ten junior staff economists who also spend a year or two at the CEA and are typically advanced graduate students. Four permanent economic statisticians also are on staff to help the economists interpret and identify important economic data. 

Martin Feldstein, a CEA chairman during the Regan Administration, writing in The Economic Journal (Vol. 102, September 1992), this academic environment distinguishes the CEA from other agencies. However, while the CEA and its staff possess a high level of economic sophistication and knowledge about current economic trends, they often lack experience in government decision-making, Feldstein pointed out.

Chairman’s Role
The role of the CEA Chairman (also known as the senior economist in the administration) is not only to provide advice directly to the President and the senior members of the administration but also to shape public understanding of economic issues. In the same journal article, Feldstein stated, “the role of the CEA and its Chairman undoubtedly differs over time depending on both the Chairman and the President.”   

Each year, the Chairman writes the Economic Report of the President, which gives an overview of the nation’s economic progress. The report is presented to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the U.S. government.  The CEA also compiles the monthly economic indicators for the Joint Economic Committee. This compilation provides economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance. 

Current Chairman’s Tenure
In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Edward P. Lazear as CEA Chairman, replacing Ben Bernanke, who became chairman of the Federal Reserve In February 2008, Chairman Lazear told Congress the did not believe the country was in a recession nor was one in the forecast. Events later in the year seemed to prove otherwise as both the United States and the global economy lurched into a severe economic trough.

By autumn 2008, with Wall Street and the banking industry in crisis and national unemployment rates at 6.1 percent, Chairman Lazear stated that parts of the U.S. were experiencing a recession even though the White House remained reluctant to go on record saying so. Lazear told CNN in October he believed the administration “has taken the right steps” to get credit flowing again.  

Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:

The President
Vice President
CEA Members (2)

Key Relationships – Within the Government:

U.S. Joint Economic Committee
U.S. Committee on the Budget
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Congressional Budget Office
Secretary of the Treasury
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Secretary of State
Federal Reserve Chairman
Secretary of Commerce
National Economic Council 

Nomination Referred to:

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs

Current Position Profile:
1. Christina D. Romer (Confirmed: January 28, 2009). Former Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, University of California Berkeley. Former Vice President and Executive Committee Member, American Economic Association.

Recent Position Profiles:

2. Edward P. Lazear, Ph.D. (2006-2009). Former member of President’s Advisory Panel of Tax Reform. Former Jack Steel Parker Professor in Human Resources Management and Economics, Stanford University.

3. Ben Bernanke, Ph.D. (2005-2006). Current Federal Reserve Chairman. Former Princeton University professor and Economics Department chair. 

4. Harvey Rosen, Ph.D. (2003-2005). Current John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy, Princeton University. Former Deputy Assistant Secretary (Tax Analysis), U.S. Treasury.