Skip to content

Chicago Fed names ex-Obama adviser Goolsbee as next leader

Goolsbee, 53, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who is a frequent commentator in opinion columns and television appearances, will succeed Charles Evans on Jan. 9. Evans is retiring after 15 years as head of the Chicago Fed after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65.

Associated Press
Associated Press
3 min read
Chicago Fed names ex-Obama adviser Goolsbee as next leader

Embed from Getty Images

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER | AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Austan Goolsbee, who was a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, has been chosen as the next president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the regional Fed bank announced Thursday.

Goolsbee, 53, an economics professor at the University of Chicago who is a frequent commentator in opinion columns and television appearances, will succeed Charles Evans on Jan. 9. Evans is retiring after 15 years as head of the Chicago Fed after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65.

As head of a regional Fed bank, Goolsbee will have a vote on the central bank’s interest rate decisions in 2023. Each year, four of the regional bank presidents rotate into voting positions on the Fed's rate-setting committee.

Goolsbee was chair of the Obama White House's Council of Economic Advisers from 2010 to 2011 after having served as a member of the council since 2009. He received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Like his predecessor, Evans, Goolsbee is likely to bring a dovish view to Fed rate-setting policy. “Doves” generally stress the need to keep rates low to support hiring and growth, while “hawks” are likelier to favor higher rates to restrain inflation.

Like many economists, Goolsbee initially characterized the current bout of inflation as a temporary one that would likely pass. In response to a survey by the University of Chicago's Booth Business School, in July 2021, he suggested that the then-elevated unemployment rate of about 7% made it unlikely that high inflation would persist.

Last September, Goolsbee expressed some concern in an interview with the business cable channel CNBC that the Fed might raise rates higher than needed to fight inflation and cause an economic downturn.

He urged the Fed to take a “data dependent” approach to its rate decisions and said, "If the Fed keeps raising rates, that’s been the most common cause of recessions in the history of the United States.”

Last week, on Fox Business, Goolsbee sounded a more cautious note, saying there could be more supply shocks from China's COVID-19 lockdowns, which would likely keep inflation elevated.

“I hope that we’ve peaked, but I think that the rate at which it comes down, it might not be as rapid as everyone wants," he said.

As an academic, Goolsbee has pushed to expand the available data on inflation. He worked with the software company Adobe to create an online inflation index. That index showed that online price increases have generally been smaller than those in physical stores.

He cited that data in a column in the New York Times last year that urged the government to measure how inflation affects different income groups. Goolsbee wrote that because higher-income Americans are more likely to shop online and to spend a smaller proportion of their incomes on food and gas, they likely experience a smaller inflation rate than do lower-income Americans.


Subscribe to the Chicago Journal


The Chicago Journal needs your support.

At just $20/year, your subscription not only helps us grow, it helps maintain our commitment to independent publishing.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE

If you're already a subscriber and you'd like to send a tip to continue to support the Chicago Journal, which we would greatly appreciate, you can do so at the following link:

Send a tip to the Chicago Journal


Subscribe to the Chicago Journal

BusinessChicago BusinessChicago NewsNews

Associated Press Twitter

News and content from The Associated Press, which has been covering the world's most important stories since 1846.


Related

Supreme Court upholds cash-free bail in Illinois, takes effect in September

Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis ordered that the halt on the law be lifted 60 days after Tuesday's opinion, on Sept. 18, 2023.

Supreme Court upholds cash-free bail in Illinois, takes effect in September

Mississippi River crests at Davenport, testing barriers

The peak was slightly lower than forecast but still high enough to test the region's flood defenses and to keep officials on guard. Many larger cities have flood walls but Davenport relies on temporary sand-filled barriers and allows the river to flood in riverfront parks.

Mississippi River crests at Davenport, testing barriers

`Multiple fatalities' on Illinois highway following crashes

The crashes occurred late in the morning and involved 40 to 60 passenger cars and multiple tractor-trailers, two of which caught fire, Illinois State Police Maj. Ryan Starrick said.

`Multiple fatalities' on Illinois highway following crashes