[Economic Report of the President (2010)] [Administration of Barack H. Obama] [Online through the Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov] APPENDIX A REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS DURING 2009 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL Council of Economic Advisers Washington, D.C., December 31, 2009 Mr. President: The Council of Economic Advisers submits this report on its activities during calendar year 2009 in accordance with the requirements of the Congress, as set forth in section 10(d) of the Employment Act of 1946 as amended by the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978. Sincerely, Christina D. Romer, Chair Austan Goolsbee, Member Cecilia Elena Rouse, Member Council Members and Their Dates of Service Name Position Oath of office date Separation date Edwin G. Nourse Chairman August 9, 1946 November 1, 1949 Leon H. Keyserling Vice Chairman August 9, 1946 Acting Chairman November 2, 1949 Chairman May 10, 1950 January 20, 1953 John D. Clark Member August 9, 1946 Vice Chairman May 10, 1950 February 11, 1953 Roy Blough Member June 29, 1950 August 20, 1952 Robert C. Turner Member September 8, 1952 January 20, 1953 Arthur F. Burns Chairman March 19, 1953 December 1, 1956 Neil H. Jacoby Member September 15, 1953 February 9, 1955 Walter W. Stewart Member December 2, 1953 April 29, 1955 Raymond J. Saulnier Member April 4, 1955 Chairman December 3, 1956 January 20, 1961 Joseph S. Davis Member May 2, 1955 October 31, 1958 Paul W. McCracken Member December 3, 1956 January 31, 1959 Karl Brandt Member November 1, 1958 January 20, 1961 Henry C. Wallich Member May 7, 1959 January 20, 1961 Walter W. Heller Chairman January 29, 1961 November 15, 1964 James Tobin Member January 29, 1961 July 31, 1962 Kermit Gordon Member January 29, 1961 December 27, 1962 Gardner Ackley Member August 3, 1962 Chairman November 16, 1964 February 15, 1968 John P. Lewis Member May 17, 1963 August 31, 1964 Otto Eckstein Member September 2, 1964 February 1, 1966 Arthur M. Okun Member November 16, 1964 Chairman February 15, 1968 January 20, 1969 James S. Duesenberry Member February 2, 1966 June 30, 1968 Merton J. Peck Member February 15, 1968 January 20, 1969 Warren L. Smith Member July 1, 1968 January 20, 1969 Paul W. McCracken Chairman February 4, 1969 December 31, 1971 Hendrik S. Houthakker Member February 4, 1969 July 15, 1971 Herbert Stein Member February 4, 1969 Chairman January 1, 1972 August 31, 1974 Ezra Solomon Member September 9, 1971 March 26, 1973 Marina v.N. Whitman Member March 13, 1972 August 15, 1973 Gary L. Seevers Member July 23, 1973 April 15, 1975 William J. Fellner Member October 31, 1973 February 25, 1975 Alan Greenspan Chairman September 4, 1974 January 20, 1977 Paul W. MacAvoy Member June 13, 1975 November 15, 1976 Burton G. Malkiel Member July 22, 1975 January 20, 1977 Charles L. Schultze Chairman January 22, 1977 January 20, 1981 William D. Nordhaus Member March 18, 1977 February 4, 1979 Lyle E. Gramley Member March 18, 1977 May 27, 1980 Council Members and Their Dates of Service Name Position Oath of office date Separation date George C. Eads Member June 6, 1979 January 20, 1981 Stephen M. Goldfeld Member August 20, 1980 January 20, 1981 Murray L. Weidenbaum Chairman February 27, 1981 August 25, 1982 William A. Niskanen Member June 12, 1981 March 30, 1985 Jerry L. Jordan Member July 14, 1981 July 31, 1982 Martin Feldstein Chairman October 14, 1982 July 10, 1984 William Poole Member December 10, 1982 January 20, 1985 Beryl W. Sprinkel Chairman April 18, 1985 January 20, 1989 Thomas Gale Moore Member July 1, 1985 May 1, 1989 Michael L. Mussa Member August 18, 1986 September 19, 1988 Michael J. Boskin Chairman February 2, 1989 January 12, 1993 John B. Taylor Member June 9, 1989 August 2, 1991 Richard L. Schmalensee Member October 3, 1989 June 21, 1991 David F. Bradford Member November 13, 1991 January 20, 1993 Paul Wonnacott Member November 13, 1991 January 20, 1993 Laura D'Andrea Tyson Chair February 5, 1993 April 22, 1995 Alan S. Blinder Member July 27, 1993 June 26, 1994 Joseph E. Stiglitz Member July 27, 1993 Chairman June 28, 1995 February 10, 1997 Martin N. Baily Member June 30, 1995 August 30, 1996 Alicia H. Munnell Member January 29, 1996 August 1, 1997 Janet L. Yellen Chair February 18, 1997 August 3, 1999 Jeffrey A. Frankel Member April 23, 1997 March 2, 1999 Rebecca M. Blank Member October 22, 1998 July 9, 1999 Martin N. Baily Chairman August 12, 1999 January 19, 2001 Robert Z. Lawrence Member August 12, 1999 January 12, 2001 Kathryn L. Shaw Member May 31, 2000 January 19, 2001 R. Glenn Hubbard Chairman May 11, 2001 February 28, 2003 Mark B. McClellan Member July 25, 2001 November 13, 2002 Randall S. Kroszner Member November 30, 2001 July 1, 2003 N. Gregory Mankiw Chairman May 29, 2003 February 18, 2005 Kristin J. Forbes Member November 21, 2003 June 3, 2005 Harvey S. Rosen Member November 21, 2003 Chairman February 23, 2005 June 10, 2005 Ben S. Bernanke Chairman June 21, 2005 January 31, 2006 Katherine Baicker Member November 18, 2005 July 11, 2007 Matthew J. Slaughter Member November 18, 2005 March 1, 2007 Edward P. Lazear Chairman February 27, 2006 January 20, 2009 Donald B. Marron Member July 17, 2008 January 20, 2009 Christina D. Romer Chair January 29, 2009 Austan Goolsbee Member March 11, 2009 Cecilia E. Rouse Member March 11, 2009 Report to the President on the Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2009 The Council of Economic Advisers was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to provide the President with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. The Chair of the Council Christina D. Romer was nominated as Chair of the Council by the President on January 20, 2009. She was confirmed by the Senate on January 28, and took the oath of office on January 29. Dr. Romer is on a leave of absence from the University of California, Berkeley, where she is the Class of 1957-Garff B. Wilson Professor of Economics. The Chair is a member of the President's Cabinet and is responsible for communicating the Council's views on economic matters directly to the President through personal discussions and written reports. Dr. Romer represents the Council at the daily Presidential economics briefing, daily White House senior staff meetings, budget meetings, Cabinet meetings, a variety of inter-agency meetings, and other formal and informal meetings with the President, the Vice President, and other senior government officials. She also meets frequently with members of Congress in both formal hearings and informal meetings to discuss economic issues and Administration priorities. She travels within the United States and overseas to present the Administration's views on the economy. Dr. Romer is the Council's chief public spokesperson. She directs the work of the Council and exercises ultimate responsibility for the work of the professional staff. Dr. Romer succeeded Edward P. Lazear, whose tenure ended with the inauguration of the new President. Dr. Lazear returned to Stanford University, where he is the Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics in the Graduate School of Business and the Morris Arnold Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. The Members of the Council The other Members of the Council are Austan Goolsbee and Cecilia Rouse. They were nominated by the President on January 20, 2009, confirmed by the Senate on March 10, and took their oaths of office on March 11. Dr.Goolsbee also serves as the Staff Director and Chief Economist of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Dr. Goolsbee is on a leave of absence from the University of Chicago, where he is the Robert P. Gwinn Professor of Economics in the Booth School of Business. Dr. Rouse is on a leave of absence from Princeton University, where she is the Theodore A. Wells '29 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs. The Members represent the Council at a wide variety of meetings and frequently attend meetings with the President and the Vice President. The Chair and the Members work as a team on most economic policy issues. The Chair works on the whole range of issues under the Council's purview, with a particular focus on macroeconomics and health care. Dr. Goolsbee focuses especially on issues related to housing, financial markets, and tax policy. Dr. Rouse focuses especially on issues related to labor markets, education, and international trade. The term of Donald B. Marron as a Member of the Council ended with the inauguration of the new President. He is currently president of Marron Economics, LLC. Areas of Activity Macroeconomic Policies A central function of the Council is to advise the President on all major macroeconomic issues and developments. The Council is actively involved in all aspects of macroeconomic policy. In 2009, the central macroeconomic issues included monitoring the financial and economic crisis; formulating the policy response, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Financial Stability Plan, and additional measures targeted to spur job creation and deal with problems in specific sectors; evaluating the effects of the policies and the economy's response; health insurance reform; and setting priorities for the budget. In this process, the Council works closely with the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, the National Economic Council, White House senior staff, and other agencies and officials. The Council prepares for the President, the Vice President, and the White House senior staff a daily economic briefing memo analyzing current economic developments, and almost-daily memos on key economic data releases. The Chair also makes more in-depth presentations on the state of the economy to these officials and to the Cabinet. The Council, the Department of Treasury, and the Office of Management and Budget--the Administration's economic ``troika''--are responsible for producing the economic forecasts that underlie the Administration's budget proposals. The Council initiates the forecasting process twice each year, consulting with a wide variety of outside sources, including leading private sector forecasters and other government agencies. The Council issued a series of reports in 2009. Among those most directly related to macroeconomic policy were a report issued in May on estimation methodology for the jobs impact of specific programs of the Recovery Act; a report in June on the economic effects of comprehensive health insurance reform; a report in September on the macroeconomic effects of the Recovery Act; and three shorter reports accompanying that report focusing on the effects of state fiscal relief, the effects of the ``Cash for Clunkers'' program, and the cross-country experience with fiscal policy in the crisis. The Council continued its efforts to improve the public's understanding of economic developments and of the Administration's economic policies through briefings with the economic and financial press, discussions with outside economists, and presentations to outside organizations. The Chair and Members also regularly met to exchange views on the macroeconomy with the Chairman and Members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Microeconomic Policies Throughout the year, the Council was an active participant in the analysis and consideration of a broad range of microeconomic policy issues. The Council was actively engaged in policy discussions on health insurance reform, financial regulatory reform, clean energy, the environment, education, and numerous labor market issues. As with macroeconomic policy,the Council works closely with other economic agencies, White House senior staff, and other agencies on these issues. Among the specific microeconomic issues that received particular attention in 2009 were small business lending; foreclosure mitigation and prevention; unemployment insurance; the condition and prospects of the American automobile industry; the role of cost-benefit analysis in regulatory policy; estimating the social benefits of reduced carbon emissions; reform of K-12 education; student financial aid; community colleges; potential developments in the U.S. labor market over the next five to ten years; and key indicators of family well-being in the recession and accompanying policy responses. Many of the reports issued by the Council in 2009 were primarily concerned with microeconomic issues. In addition to its major health care report in June, the Council issued three other reports on health insurance reform over the course of the year--one on its impact on small businesses and their employees in July, one on its impact on state and local governments in September, and an update of the June report in December. The Council also issued an extensive report on the ``jobs of tomorrow'' in July and a report on simplifying student aid in September. International Economic Policies The Council was involved in a range of international trade and finance issues, with a particular emphasis on the consequences of the international financial crisis and the related global economic slowdown. The Council was an active participant in discussions at global and bilateral levels. Council Members and staff regularly met with economists, policy officials, and government officials of other countries to discuss issues relating to the global economy and participated in the first Strategic and Economic Dialogue with China in July 2009. The Council was particularly active in examining policies that could help speed the global economy out of the current crisis. It carefully tracked developments in the global economy and considered the potential medium-run impacts of the current crisis. It was also an active participant in the Presidential Study Directive examining the development policies of the United States Government, providing analysis and support to the effort to review the interactions between the United States and countries in the developing world. On the international trade front, the Council was an active participant in the trade policy process, occupying a position on the Trade Policy Staff Committee and the Trade Policy Review Group. The Council provided analysis and recommendations on a range of trade-related issues involving the enforcement of existing trade agreements, reviews of current U.S. trade policies, and consideration of future policies. The Council was also an active participant on the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee, helping to examine the ways in which exports may support economic growth in the years to come. In the area of investment and security, the Council participated on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), discussing individual cases before CFIUS. The Council is a leading participant in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an important forum for economic cooperation among high-income industrial economies. Dr. Romer is chair of the OECD's Economic Policy Committee, and Council staff participate actively in working-party meetings on macroeconomic policy and coordination. Public Information The Council's annual Economic Report of the President is an important vehicle for presenting the Administration's domestic and international economic policies. It is available for purchase through the Government Printing Office, and is viewable on-line at www.gpoaccess.gov/eop. The Council prepared numerous reports in 2009, and the Chair and Members gave numerous public speeches and testified to Congress. The reports, texts of speeches, and written statements accompanying testimony are available at the Council's website, www.whitehouse.gov/cea. Finally, the Council publishes the monthly Economic Indicators, which is available on-line at www.gpoaccess.gov/indicators. The Staff of the Council of Economic Advisers The staff of the Council consists of the senior staff, senior economists, staff economists, research assistants, analysts, and the administrative and support staff. The staff at the end of 2009 were: Senior Staff Senior staff play key managerial and analytical roles at the Council. They direct operations, perform central Council functions, and represent the Council in meetings with other agencies and White House offices. Nan M. Gibson ................. Chief of Staff Michael B. Greenstone ......... Chief Economist Steven N. Braun ............... Director of Macroeconomic Forecasting Adrienne Pilot ................ Director of Statistical Office Senior Economists Senior economists are Ph.D. economists on leave from academic institutions, government agencies, or private research institutions. They participate actively in the policy process, represent the Council in interagency meetings, and have primary responsibility for the economic analysis and reports prepared by the Council. Each senior economist is typically a primary author of one of the chapters in this Report. Christopher D. Carroll .......... Macroeconomics Mark G. Duggan .................. Health W. Adam Looney .................. Public Finance, Tax Policy Andrew Metrick .................. Finance Jesse M. Rothstein .............. Labor, Education, Welfare Jay C. Shambaugh ................ International Macroeconomics and Trade Ann Wolverton ................... Energy, Environment, Natural Resources Staff Economists Staff economists are typically graduate students on leave from their Ph.D. training in economics. They conduct advanced statistical analysis, contribute to reports, and generally support the research and analysis mission of the Council. Sharon E. Boyd ................. Health Gabriel Chodorow-Reich ......... International Macroeconomics and Trade Laura J. Feiveson .............. Macroeconomics, Finance Joshua K. Goldman .............. Energy, Environment, Infrastructure Sarena F. Goodman .............. Education, Labor, Public Finance Joshua K. Hausman .............. Macroeconomics Zachary D. Liscow .............. Public Finance, Labor, Environment William G. Woolston ............ Health, Education Research Assistants Research assistants are typically college graduates with significant coursework in economics. They conduct statistical analysis and data collection, and generally support the research and analysis mission of the Council. Both staff economists and research assistants contribute to this Report and play a crucial role in ensuring the accuracy of all Council documents. Peter N. Ganong ................. Labor, Public Finance, Environment Clare M. Hove ................... Macroeconomics Michael P. Shapiro .............. Health, International Economics Statistical Office The Statistical Office gathers, administers, and produces statistical information for the Council. Duties include preparing the statistical appendix to the Economic Report of the President and the monthly publication Economic Indicators. The staff also creates background materials for economic analysis and verifies statistical content in Presidential memoranda. The Office serves as the Council's liaison to the statistical community. Brian A. Amorosi ................. Program Analyst Dagmara A. Mocala ................ Program Analyst Administrative Office The Administrative Office provides general support for the Council's activities. This includes financial management, ethics, human resource management, travel, operations of facilities, security, information technology, and telecommunications management support. Rosemary M. Rogers ............... Administrative Officer Archana A. Snyder ................ Financial Officer Doris T. Searles ................. Information Management Specialist Office of the Chair Julie B. Siegel .................. Special Assistant to the Chair Lisa D. Branch ................... Executive Assistant to the Members and Assistant to the Chief Economist Staff Support Sharon K. Thomas ................. Administrative Support Assistant Other Staff Brenda Szittya and Martha Gottron provided editorial assistance in the preparation of the 2010 Economic Report of the President. C. Bennett Blau and Gabrielle A. Elul served as staff assistants. Mr. Blau also served as editor of the Morning Economic Bulletin. Student interns provide invaluable help with research projects, day-to-day operations, and fact-checking. Interns during the year were: Michael D. Arena; Jana Curry; Samantha G. Ellner; Brett B. Flagg; Karen R. Li; Devin K. Mattson; Allison L. Moore; Seth H. Werfel; Carl C. Wheeler; Kie C. Riedel; Rebecca A. Wilson; Yuelan L. Wu; and Allen Yang. Departures Jane E. Ihrig left her position as Chief Economist of the Council in January to return to the Federal Reserve Board. Pierce E. Scranton left his position as Chief of Staff in January. He was succeeded by Karen Anderson, who left the Council in November for maternity leave. The senior economists who resigned during the year (with their institutions after leaving the Council in parentheses) were: Jean M. Abraham (University of Minnesota); Scott J. Adams (University of Wisconsin); Benjamin N. Dennis (Department of the Treasury); Erik W. Durbin (Sullivan and Cromwell, LLP); Wendy M. Edelberg (Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission); Elizabeth A. Kopits (Environmental Protection Agency); Michael S. Piwowar (Senate Banking Committee); William M. Powers (International Trade Commission); and Robert P. Rebelein (Vassar College). The staff economists who resigned during 2009 were Kristopher J. Dawsey, Elizabeth Schultz, and Brian Waters. Those who served as research assistants at the Council and resigned during 2009 were Michael Love and Aditi P. Sen. There were three retirements at the Council in 2009: Alice Williams, Sandy Daigle and Mary Jones. Ms. Williams devoted 39 years and Ms. Daigle 23 years to the Council. Their untiring commitment, dedication, and loyalty in serving the Council, the Chairs, and the people of the United States over the years was extraordinary and will be greatly missed. Ms. Jones's 23 years of dedication to the senior economists and Council Members was a testament to her commitment to the Council and was greatly appreciated.