Maxwell professor appointed chief economist for President’s Council of Economic Advisers

Maxwell professor appointed chief economist for President’s Council of Economic AdvisersMay 19, 2001Cynthia J. Moritzcjmoritz@syr.edu

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Syracuse University Trustee Professor of Economics and chair of the economics department in SU’s Maxwell School and SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been named the chief economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). The three-member council analyzes and interprets economic developments, appraises the programs and activities of the government, and advises the president on national economic policy. “This is a dream job for me,” Holtz-Eakin says. “It really is an honor, and I hope it will bring wonderful things for me, the Maxwell School and the University.” Maxwell Dean John L. Palmer lauds the choice of Holtz-Eakin for the CEA position. “As one of the country’s leading tax policy experts, he’s eminently qualified for this position,” Palmer says. “We’ll miss having him on campus as much, but this experience will allow him to bring even more value back to the students here.” Holtz-Eakin credits Palmer, SU Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund and the University for working out the arrangements that made it possible for him to accept the CEA position. The CEA will take up the majority of his time; he will be based in Washington, D.C., but will remain a member of the Maxwell faculty and will return to the University occasionally to continue supervising graduate students and oversee various research. He is stepping down as economics department chair. Before joining the Maxwell faculty, Holtz-Eakin was a senior staff economist with the CEA from 1989 to 1990. He was hired for his new role as chief economist by CEA Chair Glenn Hubbard, whom he has known professionally for many years. Holtz-Eakin held academic appointments at Columbia and Princeton universities early in his career. He joined the SU faculty in 1990 and is associate director of the Center for Policy Research in the Maxwell School. In his role as department chair, he has upgraded the economics Ph.D. and master’s degree programs, and added two new courses.

He has been a faculty research fellow and a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1985. From 1996 to 1998, he served as a member of the Economics Advisory Panel of the National Science Foundation. Holtz-Eakin has been a consultant to the New Jersey State and Local Expenditure and Revenue Policy Commission, the State of Arizona Joint Select Committee on State Revenues and Expenditures, and the New York State Office for the Aging. In addition, he is a member of the New York Board of Economic Advisors for the Ways and Means Committee of the New York State Assembly, for which he also serves as director of the Tax Study Commission. He has received research grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Council for Capital Formation and the National Science Foundation, among other organizations. He has published more than 60 articles for top refereed economics journals–including Econometrica, The Journal of Political Economy and The Quarterly Journal of Economics–and is editor of the National Tax Journal and a member of the editorial boards for Economics and Politics, the Journal of Sports Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Small Business Economics, the Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance and Business Ventures, and Public Works Management and Policy. His current research interest in entrepreneurship comes from a desire to understand the impact on economic growth of taxes, social insurance, and regulatory and other policies. Holtz-Eakin received a bachelor’s degree from Denison University and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.