Jason Furman

Jason Furman
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
Incumbent
Assumed office August 2, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Alan Krueger
Personal details
Born	(1970-08-18) August 18, 1970 New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Eve Gerber
Children	2
Alma mater	Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD) London School of Economics (MS)

Jason Furman (born August 18, 1970) is an economist. On June 10, 2013, Furman was named by President Barack Obama as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Previously, since January 28, 2009, Furman had served as the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, which followed his role as an advisor to candidate Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. Initially, Furman's appointment as a campaign adviser had been criticized by some labor activists.

Early life and career

Raised in New York City, Furman is the son of Jay Furman, a real-estate and shopping mall developer who donated more than $20 million to NYU and serves on its board of trustees. His mother, Gail Furman, a child psychologist, heads the family's Furman Foundation, Inc, which funds mostly left-leaning nonprofit groups. His brother Jesse Furman is a judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Education

Furman graduated from the Dalton School in 1988. In 1992, he graduated with a B.A. in social studies from Harvard, where his freshman year roommate was Matt Damon. He then received an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics. Furman returned to Harvard, where he received an M.A. in government in 1995 and a Ph.D. in economics in 2003. His Ph.D. thesis advisor was N. Gregory Mankiw, who had once also served as chairman of the CEA, during the administration of George W. Bush.

Later career

In 1996, while he was a graduate student at Harvard Department of Economics, Furman was hired by economist Joseph Stiglitz to serve a one-year stint as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy in the Clinton Administration and on staff of the Council of Economic Advisers. He later worked with Stiglitz at the World Bank. Furman was involved to varying degrees with the Presidential campaigns of Al Gore and Wesley Clark, along with his wife, Eve Gerber, who also contributed as a speechwriter for Clark. In 2004, he took a position as Director of Economic Policy for the 2004 Kerry presidential campaign.

In recent years, Furman worked as a budget expert at the Brookings Institution. There, he worked with former Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and directed the Hamilton Project, an economic policy research group that develops policy proposals to achieve shared economic growth.

He was a Visiting Scholar at New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He has been a visiting lecturer at Columbia and Yale Universities. Furman's research and policy focus includes the subjects of taxes, health care, and the U.S. Social Security program. Furman's qualified defense of Wal-Mart's business model provoked criticism from some labor organizations when he joined the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.

Personal life

He and his wife Eve live in Washington, D.C., with their two children, Henry and Louisa. The family also maintains an apartment in Greenwich Village.

External links

• Writings at the Brookings Institution
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• {{Charlie Rose view|6446}}
• Jason Furman collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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