Dr. Kristin Forbes named to

Dr. Kristin Forbes named to Council of Economic Advisors

Dr. Forbes, from the Sloan School of Management, was named to the Council last week. Daniel Gross points to work by Dr. Forbes suggesting a correlation between inequality and growth in this Slate column: "Dr. Inequality. Bush's new economist has a curious prescription.". The column has links to Forbes' resume and her American Economic Review paper on inequality and growth. Here's an Associated Press story about the nomination - "MIT professor tapped for Bush's economic council" Forbes needs Senate confirmation. Bush has also nominated Gregory Mankiw of Harvard and Harvey Rosen of Princeton to the other two slots on the Council.

Forbes was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Quantitative Policy Analysis, Latin American and Caribbean Nations, in the International Affairs Division of the Treasury earlier in this administration, and left some months ago. Last summer Brad DeLong posted a Washington Post article on policy making and staff turnover at Treasury along with some of his own commentary, here: "Treasury Department Staff Losses.". DeLong described eight Treasury economists who had recently left (including Forbes) as:

"All eight of these guys are first-class analysts and economists: smart, non-partisan, willing to tell their political bosses when they are off-base, willing to stay as late as they have to to get the work done, and deeply committed to public service. Their departure is a real loss for the country--for the current and for future administrations."

The Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) is meant to provide the President expert technical advice on economic matters. It has a somewhat different role than the National Economic Council (NEC), set up to coordinate the policy advice reaching the President from the different departments and agencies. I posted a few days ago about the evidence that the CEA was losing influence within the administration, here: ""Location, location, location": Influence in Washington and Economic Policy" See also this Washington Post column on the CEA, "'CEA You Later,' Bush Says") which outlines the dynamics of the relationship between the CEA and the NEC in the Bush Administration.