[Economic Report of the President (2012)]
[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 2011



LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL

COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS
Washington, D.C., December 31, 2011

MR. PRESIDENT:

The Council of Economic Advisers submits this report on its
activities during calendar year 2011 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,

Alan B. Krueger, Chairman
Katharine G. Abraham, Member
Carl Shapiro, Member

Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2011   | 295

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
George C. Eads      Member           June 6, 1979	January 20, 1981
Stephen M. Goldfeld   Member         August 20, 1980	January 20, 1981

296 |   Appendix A

COUNCIL MEMBERS AND THEIR DATES OF SERVICE
Name                   Position     Oath of office date  Separation date
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    September 3, 2010
Austan D. Goolsbee	Member       March 11, 2009
Chairman     September 10, 2010  August 5, 2011
Cecilia Elena Rouse	Member       March 11, 2009      February 28, 2011
Katharine G. Abraham	Member       April 19, 2011
Carl Shapiro            Member       April 19, 2011
Alan B. Krueger         Chairman     November 7, 2011

Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2011   | 297



REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT

ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE

COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS

DURING 2011


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 Council is
comprised of a Chairman and two members appointed by the President
and confirmed by the United States Senate.

THE CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL
Alan B. Krueger was nominated as Chairman of the Council by the
President on August 29, 2011. He was confirmed by the Senate on
November 3, 2011. Chairman Krueger is on leave of absence from
Princeton University, where he is the Bendheim Professor of Economics
and Public Affairs. He previously served as the Assistant Secretary
for Economic Policy and Chief Economist at the U.S Department of the
Treasury.

The Chairman 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. Chairman Krueger represents the Council at Presidential
economic briefings, 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. He also meets
frequently with members of Congress well as with business, academic and
labor leaders to discuss economic policy issues.

Austan D. Goolsbee resigned as Chairman on August 5, 2011 to return
to the University of Chicago, where he is the Robert P. Gwinn
Professor of Economics at the Booth School of Business.

Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2011   | 299


THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL

Katharine G. Abraham was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Member
of the Council on April 14, 2011. Dr. Abraham is on a leave of absence
from the University of Maryland, where she is a faculty associate in
the Maryland Population Research Center and a professor in the Joint
Program in Survey Methodology. Dr. Abraham served as the Commissioner
of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1993 to 2001.

Carl Shapiro was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as a Member of the
Council on April 14, 2011. Dr. Shapiro is on leave from the University
of California at Berkeley, where he is the Transamerica Professor of
Business Strategy at the Haas School of Business and Professor of
Economics in the Department of Economics. Dr. Shapiro served from 2009
to 2011 as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the
Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Cecilia E. Rouse resigned as Member of the Council on February 28
to return to Princeton University, where she is the Lawrence and
Shirley Katzman and Lewis and Anna Ernst Professor in the Economics
of Education and Professor of Economics and Public Affairs.

AREAS OF ACTIVITIES

A central function of the Council is to advise the President on
all economic issues and developments. In the past year, as with the
two prior years, advising the President on targeted policies to spur
job creation and evaluating the effects of the policies on the
economy have been a priority.

The Council works closely with various government agencies,
including the National Economic Council, the Office of Management and
Budget, White House senior staff, and other officials and engages in
discussions on numerous policy matters. In the area of international
economic policy, the Council coordinates with other units of the White
House, the Treasury Department, the State Department, the Commerce
Department, and the Federal Reserve on matters related to the global financial system.

Among the specific economic policy areas that received attention
in 2011 were: housing policies, including foreclosure mitigation and
prevention and refinancing; implementation of the Affordable Care Act;
income inequality; individual and corporate taxation; college
affordability; small business lending; regional development;
intellectual property and innovation; infrastructure investment;
regulatory measures; trade policies; unemployment insurance; job
training; and policies to promote the international competitiveness
of American manufacturing companies. The Council

300 |  Appendix A

also worked on several issues related to the quality of the data
available for assessing economic conditions.

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. Chairman Krueger has also been preparing monthly
briefings on the state of the economy.

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 was an active participant in the trade policy process,
participating in the Trade Policy Staff Committee and the Trade Policy
Review Group. The Council provided analysis and opinions 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 also participated 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), reviewing
individual cases before the committee.

Council Members and staff regularly met with economists, policy
officials, and government officials from other countries to discuss
issues relating to the global economy. The Council's role also
included policy development and planning for the G-20 Summit in Los
Cabos, Mexico, and the G-8 Summit in Chicago.

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. The
Council coordinated and oversaw the OECD's review of the U.S. economy.
Dr. Krueger is chairman of the OECD's Economic Policy Committee, and
Council members and staff participate actively in working-party
meetings on macro-economic policy and coordination and contribute to
the OECD's research agenda.

The Council issued a series of reports in 2011. Quarterly reports
to Congress on the effects of the Recovery Act on overall economic
activity were issued in March, July, and December. In June, the
Council released a report on U.S. Inbound Foreign Direct Investment.
The Council was also the primary contributor to White House reports
released on educational

Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2011   | 301

technology in September and two more reports related to education
in October--one on the effect the American Jobs Act would have on
teaching jobs and another on college affordability. In November, the
Council led the preparation of a White House report on the economic
benefits of infrastructure. In December, the Council was the primary
contributor to a White House report issued on the effects of
temporary unemployment insurance extensions on the U.S. economy.

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, speeches, discussions with outside economists, presentations
to outside organizations, and regular updates on major data releases
on the CEA blog. The Chairman and Members also regularly met to
exchange views on the economy with the Chairman and Members of the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

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 the Internet at
www.gpo.gov/erp.

The Council prepared numerous reports in 2011, and the Chairman
and Members gave numerous public speeches. 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.gpo.gov/economicindicators.

THE STAFF OF THE COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS

The staff of the Council consists of the senior staff, senior
economists, staff economists, research economists, research assistants, and the administrative and support staff. The staff at the end of 2011 was:

Senior Staff

David P. Vandivier.................Chief of Staff
Judith K. Hellerstein..............Chief Economist
Steven N. Braun....................Director of Macroeconomic
Forecasting
Adrienne Pilot.....................Director of Statistical Office

302 |  Appendix A


Senior Economists

Gene Amromin .....................Housing, Public Finance
Lee G. Branstetter ...............International Trade and Investment,
Innovation, and Manufacturing

Thomas C. Buchmueller.............Health
Lisa D. Cook......................International Finance,
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and
Development
Benjamin H. Harris ...............Tax, Budget and Retirement
Robert Johansson .................Energy, Environment, Agriculture,
Regulation
Craig T. Peters...................Industrial Organization,
Infrastructure, Innovation,
Regulation
Charles R. Pierret................Labor and Education
Daniel J. Vine....................Macroeconomics


Staff Economists

Jeffrey A. Borowitz...............Housing, Labor, Education
Andres Bustamante.................International Finance, Development,
Entrepreneurship
Colleen M. Carey..................Health, Industrial Organization,
Public Finance
David Cho.........................Macroeconomics
Judd N. L. Cramer................ Labor and Immigration
Reid B. Stevens.................. Energy, Environment, Regulation


Research Economists

Pedro Spivakovsky-Gonzalez........International Economics and Trade
Julia H. Yoo......................Public Finance, Housing,
Macroeconomics


Research Assistants

Matthew L. Aks....................Macroeconomics
Sandra M. Levy....................Energy, Environment, Regulation
Carter Mundell....................Education, Labor, Health
Seth H. Werfel....................International Finance and Innovation


Activities of the Council of Economic Advisers During 2011   | 303


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................. Statistical Analyst
Lindsay M. Kuberka............... Statistical Analyst
Ms. Kuberka is on detail from the Census Bureau.


Administrative Office

The Administrative Office provides general support for the
Council's activities. This includes financial management, ethics
compliance, human resource management, travel, operations of
facilities, security, information technology, and
telecommunications management support.

Archana A. Snyder ............Director of Finance and Administration
Doris T. Searles...................Information Management Specialist


Office of the Chairman

Andres Bustamante.................Special Assistant to the Chairman
and Staff Economist
Paige Shevlin.....................Special Assistant to the Chairman
Michael P. Bourgeois..............Special Assistant to the Members


Staff Support

Sharon K. Thomas..................Administrative Support and
Executive Assistant to the Chief
Economist, Senior Economists


Interns

Student interns provide invaluable help with research projects,
day-to-day operations, and fact-checking. Interns during the year
were: Noam Angrist, Dan Aloisio, David Bard, Obafemi Elegbede, Rahul
Garabadu, Jeanne Jeong, Juliette Lu, Suril Kantaria, Sarah McGhee,
Jeremy Patashnik, Benjamin Pyle, Clare Quinn, Sid Shankar, Daniel
Seder, Alex T. Stein, Elizabeth Sundheim, and Lucas Zucker.


304 |   Appendix A


DEPARTURES IN 2011


Jay C. Shambaugh left his position as Chief Economist of the
Council in June, and he is presently on faculty at Georgetown
University's McDonough School of Business. In October, Nan Gibson left
her position as Executive Director and Adam Hitchcock left his
position as Chief of Staff in August.

The senior economists who resigned in 2011(with the institutions
to which they returned after leaving the Council in parentheses) were:
Chad Bown (World Bank); Aaron Chatterji (Duke Fuqua School of
Business); Thomas Davidoff (Sauder School of Business, UBC); Benjamin
F. Jones (Northwestern University, Kellogg School); Lisa Kahn (Yale
School of Management); Arik Levinson (Georgetown University); Helen
Levy (University of Michigan School of Public Health); Matthew Magura
(Department of Justice); Nicholas Mastronardi (US Air Force Academy);
and Paul Smith (Federal Reserve Board).

The staff economists who departed in 2011 were Douglas Campbell,
Hoan Soo Lee, Sayeh Nikpay, James O'Brien, Jamin Speer, and Owen
Zidar. Those who served as research assistants at the Council and
resigned were Ravi Deedwania, Nicholas Hagerty, and Kia McLeod.

Brittany Heyd, Meryl Holt, Eric Lesser, and Matthew Tully all
served in the Office of the Chairman and resigned in 2011 to pursue
other endeavors.

Several long-term staff members departed as well. Dagmara Mocala
Mathews left her position as Program Analyst after almost 10
dedicated years of service in the Statistical Office. There were two
retirements at the Council in 2011. They are Rosemary M. Rogers, who
served as the Administrative Officer and Lisa D. Branch who served
as Executive Assistant to the Members. Mrs. Rogers devoted 30 years to
working in the Executive Branch, with almost 20 of those years at the
Council. Ms. Branch devoted 34 years to working in the Executive
Branch, with 25 of those years at the Council. Their dedication,
loyalty and diligence in serving the Council, Chairs, Members, staff
and the people of the United States will be missed tremendously.


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