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White House insiders, policy engineers, and brilliant economic minds Ben Harris and Kevin Hassett break down the challenges facing our economy today, focusing on bipartisan understandings and balanced conversations addressing fiscal policy from all angles.
Ben Harris leverages his experience as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist with the U.S. Treasury Department (2014-2017) to speak to topics such as the macroeconomic economic outlook, Biden Administration policy, global energy markets, and Congressional negotiations. As the current Vice President and Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, Harris has been regularly cited on the impacts, opportunities, and challenges of partisan policy agendas.
Dr. Kevin Hassett was the 29th Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers (2017-2019). After working in the Trump White House, Hassett was the top public spokesperson for the White House on economic policy and the state of economy, appearing regularly on FOX, FOX Business, CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and more. He is an expert on the economy, speaking on inflation, minimum wage, and more. Hassett gives valuable insight on economic policy and the way these potential policies will play out in the economy in real time.
Merging experience on Capitol Hill with expertise on America’s fiscal realities, Harris and Hassett connect with each other and audiences to cross partisan lines and find realistic economic solutions to today's most pressing issues.
Prominent economist and author Ben Harris is Vice President and Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. Harris recently served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist with the U.S. Treasury Department. In this role, Harris was a close adviser to Secretary Yellen, the Administration’s lead official on the price cap on Russian oil, and a key staffer in the development of the Build Back Better legislation. Harris has been a long-time advisor to President Biden, serving as his chief economist in the Obama White House and acting as the senior economic advisor to the Biden campaign. The New York Times called him "the quiet architect of Biden's plan to rescue the economy." Harris has been sought-after for speaking events at the Argus European Crude Conference, MIT Sloan Business School, Harvard Kenney School, American Enterprise Institute, among many others.
Prior to joining Treasury, Harris was the Executive Director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative and a research associate professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, in addition to serving as the chief economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America. Harris recently published The Retirement Challenge with Martin N. Bailey, addressing some of the most vexing problems facing the American retirement system. Harris has also published a variety of academic papers and policy briefs related to topics in public finance and has been regularly cited in media reports related to fiscal policy. His op-eds have been widely published, including frequent publication in the Wall Street Journal. Earlier in his career, he was the policy director of The Hamilton Project, a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, and deputy director of the Retirement Security Project.
Covering a wide variety of key topics, Harris is an expert on such timely topics as the macroeconomic economic outlook, Biden Administration policy, global energy markets and the price cap on Russian oil, the debt ceiling, and Congressional negotiations.
29th Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) Dr. Kevin Hassett is among the world’s leading economists. Prior to becoming Chairman of the CEA, Hassett was an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, serving as a Director of Research. Dr. Hassett was a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. He has also served as a visiting professor at New York University’s Law School, a consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department, and an advisor to political campaigns. Sought out by numerous presidential candidates, Dr. Hassett served as an economic adviser to the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush (2004) and John McCain (2000, 2008).
With his finger on the pulse of today’s markets, Dr. Hassett currently serves on One River Digital Asset Management's Academic and Regulatory Advisory Council, Managing Director at the Milken Institute, and the Brent R. Nicklas Distinguished Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Instituion of Stanford University. Dr. Hassett remains a foremost voice in economic forecasting, advising major institutions and news outlets on policy, trends, and best practices.
While at the White House, Dr. Hassett was the top public spokesperson for the White House on economic policy and the state of economy, appearing regularly on FOX, FOX Business, CNBC, MSNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and more, even running televised White House press briefings. Dr. Hassett has spoken to hosts such as TC Energy Corporation, the National Association of Realtors, Young America’s Foundation, and more.
Ben Harris completed a stint as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy and Chief Economist with the U.S. Treasury Department in March 2023. In this role, Harris was a close adviser to Secretary Yellen, the Administration’s lead official on the price cap on Russian oil, and a key staffer in the development of the Build Back Better legislation.
Prior to joining Treasury, Harris was the Executive Director of the Kellogg Public-Private Initiative and a research associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, in addition to serving as the chief economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America. He was also the senior advisor to the Biden campaign, where he was a lead contributor to the development of the Biden platform and featured surrogate for economic issues. He recently published a book titled The Retirement Challenge, with Martin N. Bailey, addressing some of the most vexing problems facing the American retirement system.
Earlier in his career, he served as the chief economist and economic adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden, was the policy director of The Hamilton Project, a fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, and deputy director of the Retirement Security Project.
In addition, Harris was a senior research associate with the Urban Institute and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Harris worked at the White House as a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers, where he specialized in fiscal policy and retirement security. He has also served as a research economist at the Brookings Institution and as a senior economist with the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Harris has also taught as an adjunct professor at the policy schools at the University of Maryland and Georgetown University.
Harris' has published a variety of academic papers and policy briefs related to topics in public finance and has been regularly cited in media reports related to fiscal policy. His op-eds have been widely published, including frequent publication in the Wall Street Journal.
He holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University, in addition to a master's degree in economics from Cornell University and a master's degree in quantitative methods from Columbia University. He earned his BA in economics at Tufts University. In 2000, Harris was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Namibia.
Dr. Kevin Hassett served as the 29th Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 2017 through 2019. He was thereafter called back to the White House in 2020 to serve as a Senior Advisor to President Trump, where he coordinated the economic response to the pandemic. Dr. Hassett has been involved in national politics for over twenty years. He served as John McCain's chief economic adviser in the 2000 presidential primaries and a senior economic adviser to the campaigns of George W. Bush in 2004, McCain again in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. Dr. Hassett is currently Managing Director at the Milken Institute and the Brent R. Nicklas Distinguished Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Hassett is also senior advisor of Capital Matters, the economic web site of National Review. Prior to his White House service, Hassett was Research Director at the American Enterprise Institute. He also served as a senior economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. His academic background includes being an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, as well as a visiting professor at New York University’s Law School. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and B.A. with high honors from Swarthmore College.
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