Economists Support Hassett for CEA Chair

June 5, 2017

The Honorable Michael Crapo
Chairman
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
United States Senate
239 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Sherrod Brown
Ranking Member
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
United States Senate
713 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Crapo and Ranking Member Brown,

We are writing to support the nomination of Kevin Hassett to be Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. The signers of this letter come from diverse backgrounds, and many of us have served in Democratic and Republican Administrations. While we disagree on many issues, as economists we all agree that the Nation would be well served if Kevin Hassett is confirmed as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

The Council of Economic Advisers plays an important role in providing the objective economic advice that the President needs to address our nation’s economic challenges. While the signers of this letter hold a range of views on President Trump’s policies, we all believe that the formulation of economic policy would be advanced by the analysis and advice that Dr. Hassett would bring to the table.

Dr. Hassett has a record of serious scholarship on a wide range of topics, including tax policy, business investment, and energy. He has engaged on an even wider range of topics in the public policy debate and in his work at the Federal Reserve and as a consultant to the Department of the Treasury during the Administrations of President George H.W. Bush and President William J. Clinton. In addition, we appreciate that Dr. Hassett has consistently made an effort to reach out to a wide range of people from across the ideological spectrum both to promote economic dialogue and to collaborate on research and public policy proposals.

For all of these reasons we believe that Dr. Hassett would be an excellent choice for Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and urge the Committee to move as expeditiously as possible to ensure that the Administration has the benefit of his economic advice.

Sincerely,

Alan J. Auerbach
Robert D. Burch Professor of Economics and Law and Director, Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance
University of California, Berkeley

Martin N. Baily
Bernard L. Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Development and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution

Dean Baker
Co-Director
Center for Economic and Policy Research

Robert J. Barro
Paul M. Warburg Professor of Economics
Harvard University

Ben S. Bernanke
Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution

Jared Bernstein
Senior Fellow
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Alan S. Blinder
Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs
Princeton University

Michael J. Boskin
T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Stanford University

Arthur C. Brooks
President
American Enterprise Institute

John H. Cochrane
Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Stanford University

Karen Dynan
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Peterson Institute for International Economics

Janice Eberly
James R. And Helen D. Russell Professor of Finance
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

Douglas W. Elmendorf
Dean and Don K. Price Professor of Public Policy
Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government

Martin S. Feldstein
George F. Baker Professor of Economics
Harvard University

Jason Furman
Senior Fellow
Peterson Institute for International Economics

William G. Gale
Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy and Senior Fellow in Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution

Ted Gayer
Vice President and Director of the Economic Studies Program and Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow
The Brookings Institution

Austan D. Goolsbee
Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Alan Greenspan
President
Greenspan Associates LLC

Robert E. Hall
Robert and Carole McNeil Joint Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Professor of Economics
Stanford University

Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin
President
American Action Forum

R. Glenn Hubbard
Dean and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics
Columbia University, Graduate School of Business

Randall S. Kroszner
Norman R. Bobins Professor of Economics
University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Alan B. Krueger
Bendheim Professor of Economics & Public Policy
Princeton University

Edward P. Lazear
Morris Arnold Cox and Nona Jean Cox Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and Davies Family Professor of Economics
Stanford University

Lawrence Lindsey
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Lindsey Group

N. Gregory Mankiw
Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics
Harvard University

Donald B. Marron
Director of Economic Policy Initiatives and Institute Fellow
The Urban Institute

Peter R. Orszag
Vice Chairman and Managing Director
Lazard

Adam S. Posen
President
Peterson Institute for International Economics

James Michael Poterba
Mitsui Professor of Economics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Christina D. Romer
Class of 1957 — Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics
University of California, Berkeley

Harvey S. Rosen
John L. Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy
Princeton University

Cecilia Elena Rouse
Dean and Lawrence and Shirley Katzman and Lewis and Anna Ernst Professor in the Economics of Education
Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

Jay C. Shambaugh
Professor of Economics and International Affairs
George Washington University

Robert J. Shapiro
Co-founder and Chairman
Sonecon, LLC

Betsey Stevenson
Associate Professor of Public Policy; Associate Professor of Economics
University of Michigan, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

James H. Stock
Burbank Professor of Political Economy
Harvard University

Michael R. Strain
Director of Economic Policy Studies and Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute

Phillip Swagel
Professor
University of Maryland

John B. Taylor
Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics and George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institution
Stanford University

Laura D. Tyson
Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School
University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Justin Wolfers
Professor of Economics and Professor of Public Policy
University of Michigan

Mark M. Zandi
Chief Economist
Moody’s Analytics

Affiliations listed for identification purposes only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations listed.