University professor to chair Council of Economic Advisers

Economist Harvey Rosen named to post.

By: Marian C. Isgro
   Princeton University economics professor Harvey Rosen has been appointed chair of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, the White House announced Wednesday.
   Professor Rosen has served as a member of the council since 2003. In his position as chair, he succeeds Gregory Mankiw, a 1980 Princeton graduate, who resigned last week to return to Harvard University.
   The three-person advisory board performs economic analysis and advises the president on domestic and international economic policy issues.
   Professor Rosen, currently on leave, is Princeton’s John Weinberg Professor of Economics and Business Policy and has been part of the Princeton faculty since 1974. Much of Professor Rosen’s research focuses on tax policy.
   "His specialty is what we call public economics or public finance, which is essentially the study of both the expenditure and revenue sides of the government tax system," said Professor Gene Grossman, chair of Princeton’s economics department.
   Professor Rosen previously served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991 as deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis in the Department of the Treasury.
   Professor Rosen’s expertise, Professor Grossman said, is particularly suited to the current president’s stated goals for this term.
   "He’s a lifelong expert on tax policy and microeconomics, and given the agenda of the current administration, he’ll be well placed to give some expert advice," Professor Grossman said. "The reform of the Social Security system, which is a key element of Bush’s program for his second term, involves a lot of questions about how the funds for the retirement program will be raised.
   "Harvey’s professional expertise very much lines up with issues that are on the table in the current climate."
   Prior to Professor Rosen’s appointment, the media speculated that another member of Princeton’s economics department, Ben Bernanke, would be named chair.
   "I didn’t know that (Professor Rosen) was in contention," said Patrick Bolton, professor of finance and economics at Princeton. "I’d heard about Ben being considered for the job."
   However, it was unclear whether Professor Bernanke would have left his current position with the Federal Reserve to be chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Professor Bolton said.
   At Princeton, Professor Rosen has served as chair of the Department of Economics and director of the Center for Economic Policy Studies. The university awarded him a President’s Award for Distinguishing Teaching in 2003.
   Professor Rosen also is the author of a widely studied economics textbook called "Public Finance," published in 1985.