Will Cal professor help Obama save the economy?

Cristina Romer, a 49-year-old economics at UC Berkeley and expert on the Great Depression, was appointed Monday to head President-elect Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisors.

Once Obama takes office in January, Romer will provide the new president with objective economic analysis and advice on developing and implementing domestic and international economic policies. Romer advised Obama on economic policy issues during his presidential campaign.

According to The New York Times, here’s what Romer, who is married to David H. Romer, another UC Berkeley economic, would bring to the job:

“An expertise in recessions, and, in particular, the Great Depression. She has written, among other things, papers titled “What Ends Recessions?” and “What Ended the Great Depression?” She has also researched the effects of monetary policy on economic growth and inflation, and the effects of tax cuts on private investment and government spending. While she has described herself as having “liberal Obama-heavy political views,” she appeals to both liberal and conservative thinkers.

She has found that tax cuts are usually associated with increases in government spending, for example. But she has also found that tax increases cause the economy to contract. And her dissertation showed, to the great delight of free-marketers, that the federal government has not gotten much better at stabilizing the economy since the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, The San Jose Mercury News reports colleagues as saying that “Romer is a good communicator and someone who can guide the White House on complex economic issues. … She's skeptical of supply-side economics and has criticized the reliance on long-term deficits in less-troubled times to shrink unemployment and pump up the economy.

Finally, The Wall Street Journal says: “Bradford DeLong, like Ms. Romer a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said she would likely agree to a short-run stimulus plan.”

Posted at 05:55 PM in Best Of Editor Picks | Permalink