# Jason Furman

> Jason Furman is an American economist who chaired President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers from 2013 to 2017 and now teaches the famous Economics 10 introductory course at Harvard alongside David Laibson. The Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute, he is one of the most widely quoted policy economists working today, dissecting tariffs, inflation, deficits and AI in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Project Syndicate and on his prolific X feed.

- **Role:** Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
- **Organizations:** Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Department of Economics, Peterson Institute for International Economics, Council on Foreign Relations, Group of Thirty, Aspen Economic Strategy Group, Russell Sage Foundation
- **From:** New York City, New York, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** High school diploma, Dalton School, AB in Social Studies, Harvard University, MSc, London School of Economics, AM in Government, Harvard University, PhD in Economics (advisor: Greg Mankiw), Harvard University
- **Known for:** Served as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (2013-2017), acting as Obama's chief economist and a cabinet member, Helped design the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the largest US fiscal stimulus in a generation, Built and directed the Hamilton Project, a leading center-left economic policy shop founded by Robert Rubin

## Career timeline

- **1996** — Staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under Joseph Stiglitz while a Harvard grad student
- **1990s-2000s** — Work at the World Bank and the National Economic Council during the Clinton administration; visiting posts at NYU, Columbia and Yale
- **2004** — Director of Economic Policy for the John Kerry presidential campaign
- **2006-2008** — Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director of the Hamilton Project
- **2008** — Economic Policy Director for the Obama presidential campaign
- **2009-2013** — Deputy Director of the National Economic Council; helped architect the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
- **2013-2017** — 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and member of Obama's cabinet
- **2017-present** — Professor of the Practice at Harvard Kennedy School; nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute
- **2019-present** — Co-teaches Economics 10, Harvard's introductory economics course, with David Laibson

## Achievements

- Served as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (2013-2017), acting as Obama's chief economist and a cabinet member
- Helped design the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the largest US fiscal stimulus in a generation
- Built and directed the Hamilton Project, a leading center-left economic policy shop founded by Robert Rubin
- Earned a Harvard PhD in economics under Greg Mankiw
- Became one of the most widely cited public-facing economists, with columns in the WSJ, NYT and Project Syndicate
- Co-teaches Ec10, one of Harvard's largest and most influential undergraduate courses

## Latest updates

- **2025-04** — Appeared on 'Conversations with Bill Kristol' calling Trump's tariffs an enormous 'shock to the system' likely to cause short- and long-term pain.
- **2025-07** — Published a New York Times opinion piece, 'The Tariffs Kicked In. The Sky Didn't Fall. Were the Economists Wrong?'
- **2025-12** — Appeared on the Hidden Forces podcast discussing the AI bubble, inflation and the limits of monetary policy.
- **2026-02** — Appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box discussing a Supreme Court tariff ruling and presidential authority over tariffs.

## Links

- Website: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/jason-furman
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/jasonfurman

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jason-furman
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-02