 | This article cites its sourcesbut does not providepage references. Please helpimprove it by providing page numbers for existing citations.(July 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1946; 79 years ago (1946) |
| Preceding agencies | |
| Headquarters | Eisenhower Executive Office Building |
| Employees | About 35 |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Executive Office of the President of the United States |
| Website | wh |
TheCouncil of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within theExecutive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises thepresident of the United States on economic policy.[2] The CEA provides much of the empirical research for theWhite House and prepares the publicly-available annualEconomic Report of the President.[3] The council is made up of its chairperson and generally two to three additional member economists. Its chairperson requires appointment and Senate confirmation, and its other members are appointed by the president.
 | This section has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
The report is published by the CEA annually in February, no later than 10 days after the budget of the US government is submitted.[4] The president typically writes a letter introducing the report, serving as an executive summary. The report proceeds with several hundred pages of qualitative and quantitative research reviewing the impact ofeconomic activity in the previous year, outlining economic goals for the coming year (based on the president's economic agenda), and making numerical projections of economic performance and outcomes.[5] The data referenced or used in the report are from theBureau of Economic Analysis and U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics.[citation needed]
TheTruman administration established the Council of Economic Advisers via theEmployment Act of 1946 to provide presidents with objective economic analysis and advice on the development and implementation of a wide range of domestic and international economic policy issues. It was a step from an "ad hoc style of economic policy-making to a more institutionalized and focused process". The act gave the council the following goals:
1. to assist and advise the President in the preparation of the Economic Report;
2. to gather timely and authoritative information concerning economic developments and economic trends, both current and prospective, to analyze and interpret such information in the light of the policy declared in section 2 for the purpose of determining whether such developments and trends are interfering, or are likely to interfere, with the achievement of such policy, and to compile and submit to the President studies relating to such developments and trends;
3. to appraise the various programs and activities of the Federal Government in the light of the policy declared in section 2 for the purpose of determining the extent to which such programs and activities are contributing, and the extent to which they are not contributing, to the achievement of such policy, and to make recommendations to the President with respect thereto;
4. to develop and recommend to the President national economic policies to foster and promote free competitive enterprise, to avoid economic fluctuations or to diminish the effects thereof, and to maintain employment, production, and purchasing power;
5. to make and furnish such studies, reports thereon, and recommendations with respect to matters of Federal economic policy and legislation as the President may request.[6]
In 1949 ChairmanEdwin Nourse and memberLeon Keyserling argued about whether the advice should be private or public and about the role of government in economic stabilization.[7] Nourse believed a choice had to be made between "guns or butter" but Keyserling argued fordeficit spending, asserting that an expanding economy could afford large defense expenditures without sacrificing an increasedstandard of living. In 1949, Keyserling gained support from Truman advisorsDean Acheson andClark Clifford. Nourse resigned as chairman, warning about the dangers of budget deficits and increased funding of "wasteful" defense costs. Keyserling succeeded to the chairmanship and influenced Truman'sFair Deal proposals and the economic sections ofNSC 68 that, in April 1950, asserted that the larger armed forces America needed would not affect living standards or risk the "transformation of the free character of our economy".[8]
During the1953–54 recession, the CEA, headed byArthur Burns, deployed non-traditionalneo-Keynesian interventions, which provided results later called the "steady fifties" wherein many families stayed in the economic "middle class" with just one family wage-earner. TheEisenhower administration supported an activist contracyclical approach that helped to establishKeynesianism as a possible bipartisan economic policy for the nation. Especially important in formulating the CEA response to the recession—acceleratingpublic works programs, easing credit, and reducing taxes—were Arthur F. Burns andNeil H. Jacoby.[9]
Until 1963, during its first seven years the CEA made five technical advances in policy making, including the replacement of a "cyclical model" of the economy by a "growth model", the setting of quantitative targets for the economy, use of the theories offiscal drag and full-employment budget, recognition of the need for greater flexibility in taxation, and replacement of the notion of unemployment as a structural problem by a realization of a low aggregate demand.[10]
The 1978Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act required each administration to move towardfull employment and reasonable price stability within a specific time period. It has been criticized for making CEA's annual economic report highly political in nature, as well as highly unreliable and inaccurate over the standard two or five year projection periods.[11]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(July 2017) |
Since 1980, the CEA has focused on sources of economic growth, thesupply side of the economy, and on international issues.[7] In the wake of theGreat Recession of 2008–09, the Council of Economic Advisers played a significant role in supporting theAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act.[12]
On March 12, 2025,Stephen Miran was confirmed as President Trump's nominee to be the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.[13][14]
The council's chairman is nominated by the president and confirmed by theUnited States Senate. The members are appointed by the president. As of July 2017, the council's eighteen person staff consisted of a chief of staff (Director of Macroeconomic Forecasting), fifteen economists (five senior, four research, four staff economists, two economic statisticians) and two operations staff.[15] Many of the staff economists are academics on leave or government economists on temporary assignment from other agencies.[12]
Denotes acting capacity. |
| Image | Name | Start | End | President | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Edwin Nourse | August 9, 1946 | November 1, 1949 | Harry Truman (1945–1953) | |
.png) | Leon Keyserling | November 2, 1949 | May 10, 1950 | ||
| May 10, 1950 | January 20, 1953 | ||||
 | Arthur Burns | March 19, 1953 | December 1, 1956 | Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961) | |
 | Raymond Saulnier | December 3, 1956 | January 20, 1961 | ||
 | Walter Heller | January 29, 1961 | November 15, 1964 | John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) | |
| Lyndon Johnson (1963–1969) | |||||
 | Gardner Ackley | November 16, 1964 | February 15, 1968 | ||
| Arthur Okun | February 15, 1968 | January 20, 1969 | ||
| Paul McCracken | February 4, 1969 | December 31, 1971 | Richard Nixon (1969–1974) | |
| Herbert Stein | January 1, 1972 | August 31, 1974 | ||
| Gerald Ford (1974–1977) | |||||
 | Alan Greenspan | September 4, 1974 | January 20, 1977 | ||
 | Charles Schultze | January 22, 1977 | January 20, 1981 | Jimmy Carter (1977–1981) | |
 | Murray Weidenbaum | February 27, 1981 | August 25, 1982 | Ronald Reagan (1981–1989) | |
 | Marty Feldstein | October 14, 1982 | July 10, 1984 | ||
 | Beryl Sprinkel | April 18, 1985 | January 20, 1989 | ||
_(cropped).jpg) | Michael Boskin | February 2, 1989 | January 20, 1993 | George H. W. Bush (1989–1993) | |
 | Laura Tyson | February 5, 1993 | April 22, 1995 | Bill Clinton (1993–2001) | |
 | Joe Stiglitz | June 28, 1995 | February 10, 1997 | ||
 | Janet Yellen | February 18, 1997 | August 3, 1999 | ||
 | Martin Baily | August 12, 1999 | January 20, 2001 | ||
 | Glenn Hubbard | May 11, 2001 | February 28, 2003 | George W. Bush (2001–2009) | |
 | Greg Mankiw | May 29, 2003 | February 18, 2005 | ||
.jpg) | Harvey Rosen | February 23, 2005 | June 10, 2005 | ||
 | Ben Bernanke | June 21, 2005 | January 31, 2006 | ||
.jpg) | Edward Lazear | February 27, 2006 | January 20, 2009 | ||
 | Christina Romer | January 29, 2009 | September 3, 2010 | Barack Obama (2009–2017) | |
 | Austan Goolsbee | September 10, 2010 | August 5, 2011 | ||
 | Alan Krueger | November 7, 2011 | August 2, 2013 | ||
.jpg) | Jason Furman[16] | August 2, 2013 | January 20, 2017 | ||
 | Kevin Hassett[17] | September 13, 2017 | June 28, 2019 | Donald Trump (2017–2021) | |
.jpg) | Tomas Philipson Acting | June 28, 2019 | June 23, 2020 | ||
 | Tyler Goodspeed Acting | June 23, 2020 | January 7, 2021 | ||
.png) | Cecilia Rouse | March 12, 2021 | March 31, 2023 | Joe Biden (2021–2025) | |
 | Jared Bernstein | July 10, 2023 | January 20, 2025 | ||
 | Steve Miran | March 13, 2025 On leave: September 16, 2025 – present | present | Donald Trump (2025–present) | |
 | Pierre Yared Acting | September 16, 2025 | present | ||
Public domain)
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
