Skip to main content
Journal Publication

Our Academic Productivity After the Council of Economic Advisers

Econ Journal Watch

September 30, 2024

By Richard V. Burkhauser | Kevin Corinth | Casey B. Mulligan

Abstract

Gordon Tullock wrote that government economists found capable of “firefighting” are assigned to do more of it, “with the result that the higher ranks of government economists aren’t able to read.” We here offer ourselves as confounding data points, for our experiences have been otherwise. We read a lot. This article reports how doing our jobs well at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) laid a substantial foundation for subsequent academic articles. We found a marked increase in our research productivity post-service, evidenced by publications in economics journals and new academic courses developed. We attribute the boost to the direct application of public sector understanding to academic research and enhanced work habits acquired from CEA’s rigorous environment.

Read the full article

About the Authors

Richard V. Burkhauser

Senior Research Fellow at the Civitas Institute (University of Texas at Austin) and Emeritus Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Public Policy in the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University, received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1976. His career has focused on how public policies affect the employment and well-being of vulnerable populations. In 2010 he was the President of the Association for Public Policy and Management. He has published widely in the fields of economics, public policy, demography, and gerontology. His email address is [email protected].

Kevin Corinth

Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute, received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 2014. He previously served at the Joint Economic Committee in Congress, the Comprehensive Income Dataset Project at the University of Chicago, and the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House. His research focuses on poverty, housing, and tax policy. He has published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and other popular outlets. His email address is [email protected].

Casey B. Mulligan

Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1993. He is also co-director of the Initiative on Enabling Choice and Competition in Healthcare. Mulligan has written on discrepancies between economic analysis and conventional wisdom. His books include You’re Hired!, Chicago Price Theory, Side Effects and Complications, The Redistribution Recession, and Parental Priorities and Economic Inequality. He has written opinion pieces and blog entries for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, the Chicago Tribune, and other periodicals. His email address is [email protected].