Phil Swagel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 10th Director of theCongressional Budget Office | |
| Assumed office June 3, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Keith Hall |
| Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy | |
| In office December 11, 2006 – January 20, 2009 | |
| President | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Mark Warshawsky |
| Succeeded by | Alan B. Krueger |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1966-06-08)June 8, 1966 (age 58) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Judith K. Hellerstein |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Princeton University (BA) Harvard University (MA,PhD) |
Phillip Lee "Phill"Swagel[1] (born June 8, 1966)[2] is an Americaneconomist who is currently the director of theCongressional Budget Office. AsAssistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy from 2006 to 2009, he played an important role in theTroubled Asset Relief Program that was part of the U.S. government's response to thefinancial crisis of 2007–08. He was recently a Professor in International Economics at theUniversity of MarylandSchool of Public Policy, a non-resident scholar at theAmerican Enterprise Institute, senior fellow at theMilken Institute, and co-chair of theBipartisan Policy Center's Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative.
Educated atPrinceton University andHarvard University, Swagel has taught economics atNorthwestern University, theUniversity of Chicago Booth School of Business, andGeorgetown University'sMcDonough School of Business, in addition to Maryland. He has also worked at theFederal Reserve, theInternational Monetary Fund, and theWhite HouseCouncil of Economic Advisors.
Swagel graduated fromLos Alamitos High School inLos Alamitos, California.[2] He graduated with an A.B. ineconomics fromPrinceton University in 1987 after completing a 128-page long senior thesis titled "Examining the Competitiveness Debate: Optimal Trade Policies for TwoOligopolistic Industries."[3] He went on to do graduate work atHarvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1993.[4]
From 1992 to 1995 Swagel worked as an economist for theFederal Reserve Board of Governors,[5] the governing body of theFederal Reserve System, thecentral bank of the United States.[6] From 1994 to 1996 he taughtmacroeconomics andinternational economics as a visiting assistant professor atNorthwestern University. He was an economist at theInternational Monetary Fund from 1996 to 2002.[1][5] During this time he andMatthew J. Slaughter published a working paper asserting that changes in technology rather thanglobalization were responsible for increases in inequality between skilled and unskilled workers in developed countries.[7]
Swagel began his service in government in August 2000, when he joined theWhite HouseCouncil of Economic Advisers as a senior economist, a position he held until July 2001. He returned to the Council as chief of staff in July 2002. He was replaced in February 2005[1] by Gary Blank, who had been deputy policy director inPresident George W. Bush's re-election campaign the year before.[8] Swagel became a resident scholar at theAmerican Enterprise Institute (AEI) the next month.[1]
After Bush appointedHenry Paulson asSecretary of the Treasury in 2006, Paulson recruited Swagel to join his staff at theDepartment of the Treasury. Swagel left AEI in October, and in December he was sworn in asAssistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy followingconfirmation by theU.S. Senate.[1][9] In this role he was the Treasury Department's chief economist.[10]
Beginning in summer 2007, the value of somefinancial instruments backed by U.S.subprime mortgages declined sharply as it became clear that many of the borrowers woulddefault on the mortgages. This caused acrisis as the banks holding the mortgages saw their assets decline in value and rushed toforeclose the loans.[11] Swagel investigated many of these mortgages for Treasury, finding that in many cases borrowers were in homes they could not afford.[10]
In early 2008, fearing that the crisis could escalate, Paulson directed Swagel and fellow Treasury aideNeel Kashkari to write a plan to recapitalize the financial system in case of total collapse.[12] The plan called for Congress to authorize Treasury to spend $500 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities from troubled banks, replacing them on banks' balance sheets with safe,liquidTreasury bills. This would preventruns on the banks and encourage them to lend. The plan was conceived as an alternative to proposals from the staff of theHouse Financial Services Committee, then led byDemocratic RepresentativeBarney Frank.[13]
As theglobal financial crisis unfolded throughout 2008, Swagel played a key role in the U.S. government's response.[14] He argued for bold action to stabilize the banks,[15] and his and Kashkari's plan became the basis for theTroubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), which Kashkari ran.[16] Swagel also sat on the five-member investment committee within Treasury that decided which financial institutions would receive TARP funds.[17]
Shortly before leaving office, Swagel sparred with fellow economistLuigi Zingales at the annual meeting of theAmerican Economic Association. Zingales charged thebailout had been costly and ineffective; Swagel countered that Zingales was underestimating the risks of doing nothing and neglecting legal constraints policymakers faced.[18] Shortly after leaving office, Swagel published an account of the government's response to the financial crisis inBrookings Papers on Economic Activity. He argued that Treasury's actions to stabilize the financial system were necessary and successful but that the administration had not adequately explained its actions and reasoning to the public. He also contended that policy disorganization, legal constraints, and political considerations prevented Treasury from doing more to limit the scope of the crisis.[19] However, at least one pundit thought Swagel sounded at times like a critic of the Bush and Obama administrations rather than the policy insider he was.[20]
In July 2008,Washington Post columnistDana Milbank criticized Swagel's performance at a press conference following aU.S. Labor Department jobs report showing continuing weakness in the U.S. economy.[21]
Swagel left the Treasury Department on January 20, 2009,[22] the dayBarack Obama wasinaugurated as Bush's successor.[23] Later that year he joined theMcDonough School of Business ofGeorgetown University as a visiting professor and director of the school's Center for Financial Institutions, Policy, and Governance. There he taught classes on the role of financial markets in the broader economy. In 2011 he became Professor[5] in International Economic Policy at theUniversity of MarylandSchool of Public Policy.[4] He is also an academic fellow of the Center for Financial Policy at the university'sRobert H. Smith School of Business, a senior fellow at theMilken Institute,[24] and a non-resident scholar at AEI. He has also taught classes at theUniversity of ChicagoBooth School of Business.[5]
Since leaving Treasury, Swagel has continued to comment on economic policy. He argued against giving Treasury "resolution authority" to seize and shut down failing banks, while acknowledging the dissonance between this position and his role in TARP.[25] Later, he came out againstDaniel Tarullo's plan to limit the size of large U.S. banks,[26] instead praising a plan proposed jointly by theBank of England and the U.S.Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.[27] He made several proposals for reforming thegovernment-sponsored enterprisesFannie Mae andFreddie Mac,[28][29] one of which inspired a bill in theU.S. Senate sponsored by SenatorsBob Corker andMark Warner.[30] He was one of several economists from the Bush administration who in 2010 supported Obama's plans to increase infrastructure spending.[31]
Swagel is currently a professor of International Economic Policy at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy. In 2019, Swagel was nominated to be the tenth director of theCongressional Budget Office (CBO).[32]
{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
