Council of Economic Advisers - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Council of Economic Advisers Index / Organizations Transcripts Steven Chu ...from eleven years. And so there was the CEA [Council of Economic Advisers]... ...years. And so there was the CEA [ Council of Economic Advisers ], Interior, Army Corps of Engineers... Nancy Sutley ...of Energy and Climate Change, from the Council of Economic Advisers . It was a very technical discussion. ... David Axelrod ...who was the incoming director of the Council of Economic Advisors , “Here's the problem. The countr... Austan Goolsbee ...campaign, and served on the Council of Economic Advisers [CEA] and the National [read... ...on the Council of Economic Advisers [ CEA ] and the National [read: President's... ...and was also the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers . Very pleased to see you again... ...move forward. You wind up being on the Council of Economic Advisers . How do you first find out about that... ...was most likely I would be chair of the CEA . I wasn't. I become a member with he... ...that it was going to go there, and the CEA might get marginalized and not listene... ...was a guy who was working for me at CEA , Adam Looney, who had come from th... ...then your day job, I guess, is at the CEA . The president nominates you on hi... ...you're Senate confirmed. So at the CEA , in a way you can kind of do the job... ...is through the PERAB. And I'm doing the CEA job, but not from that physical office... ...I'm not going to physical meetings as a CEA member. Before we get back to th... ...we get back to the substance of the CEA , I want to talk about something that'... ...before you get confirmed to the CEA , you wind up going on cable news. Yo... ...picked up. Before we go back to the CEA and the various economic problems... ...description. You start working on the Council of Economic Advisers . What are the initial things you al... ...So, the thing to know about the CEA is the CEA is basically like th... ...the thing to know about the CEA is the CEA is basically like the president'... ...runs trade and stuff like that. CEA isn't that, it's just a think tank. So... ...So, if the president listens to the CEA , then it's a super interesting job... ...if the president doesn't care about the CEA , it's the loneliest job in Washington... ...listening? Obama cared a lot about the CEA , and so involved the CEA in th... ...lot about the CEA, and so involved the CEA in the budget, in most of the polic... ...multiple tracks going on of things that CEA was working on. First, is th... ...I was the tax and budget guy. So the CEA being involved in that, there needs t... ...to be somebody at a high level from CEA who works on budget. And then there ar... ...our lap. Just organizationally, so the CEA is not necessarily putting out, let'... ...It could be two models. It could be the CEA is putting out reports on particula... ...Periodically, and if you go to the CEA website, I'm sure you'll see, the CE... ...CEA website, I'm sure you'll see, the CEA will put out some reports on variou... ...says, What do we know about x? Could CEA write a report on how many green job... ...that. And so, they tasked that to the CEA , so that was a series of memos tha... ...so that was a series of memos that the CEA has to come up with that produce it... ...producing on a regular basis are, the CEA receives all the data the day befor... ...jobs numbers come in the night before, CEA says, “Here's what the data show... ...because Obama wanted them there, the CEA was involved in all of that stuff. Al... ...I think focusing on your work at the CEA . And I just had a list of issues and ... ...down. And so we were spending at CEA , and partly as I described in th... ...folks from the NEC, from Treasury, from CEA , usually from HUD since it was ... ...through Congress, but are you and the CEA involved in the process of eithe... ...on the content very much so. The CEA especially, because Christy Romer wa... ...would get bad enough that at CEA we'd get sent a notification of ... ...actually endanger all of them. So for CEA , our analysis is about things—i... ...you a couple of questions about how the CEA functions, just so we can get that o... ...you describe as the function of the CEA , and what does it do under the Obam... ...the Obama administration? Like I say, CEA is basically the president's persona... ...National Economic Council, in a way the CEA played the role of a more neutra... ...I talked to a bunch of older CEA chairs and members when I became th... ...the process of economic policy. So the CEA is just there, basically to weigh in o... ...Obama did—Obama moved the chair of the CEA into the cabinet and essentially aske... ...cabinet and essentially asked that the CEA be involved in all of the polic... ...policy process, and he would have the CEA chair come to the meetings. And s... ...come to the meetings. And so mostly the CEA functions doing that, whatever role th... ... And then, the one thing that the CEA must do is produce the Economic Repor... ...such report that you all had to do as CEA about [crosstalk] ? The Economi... ...the deficit, things like that. Is the CEA 's report—does it have those sam... ...in the Bush administration, where the CEA 's Economic Report of the President ha... ...up a fair amount of time of what the CEA does, I think if you went and asked th... ...asked the other people working at the CEA , which maybe you will, I don'... ...Care Act, where I think the role of the CEA is quite important. And I would com... ...of thought. Your question was what the CEA does. In academics, you're waking u... ...No one cares. When working at the CEA , you don't really feel like that, o... ...teacher of mine. And he had been at the CEA in the 1970s, and his quote of the CE... ...CEA in the 1970s, and his quote of the CEA is that, “A good CEA, the job is lik... ...his quote of the CEA is that, “A good CEA , the job is like that of a goo... ...planting seeds.” And that's kind of the CEA 's job is, everybody in their rush of... ...“Let's try this. Let's try that.” The CEA 's like, “Whoa, wait a minute. Here'... ...are. Maybe final question on the CEA , on the early function of the CEA—yo... ...the CEA, on the early function of the CEA —you said what you did was ... ...did was a combination of, you're the CEA 's person at a series of meetings an... ...and then there are activities that the CEA does as the CEA. So can you give us ... ...are activities that the CEA does as the CEA . So can you give us a sense of day t... ...us a sense of day to day, what does the CEA do? Are there regular meetings? I... ...of it there depends on what does the CEA chair—how do they want to set it up... ...does the president want? So mostly the CEA chair would call a CEA-wide meetin... ...So mostly the CEA chair would call a CEA -wide meeting once a week. And we'... ...know how. That gets assigned to the CEA . CEA needs to figure that out. So ... ...how. That gets assigned to the CEA. CEA needs to figure that out. So a rum... ...figure that out. So a rump group within CEA will have the assignment to go figur... ...out. So then the labor economist at CEA might spend a week trying to analyz... ...And then they would come to that weekly CEA meeting, and they'd be like, “What doe... ...because, a, it would keep the CEA chair up to date on everything that'... ...really smart economists, who are at CEA in these senior economist roles, an... ...these data,” something. So internal to CEA , a lot of it was oriented aroun... ...way forward. So Christy Romer leaves as CEA chair, and then you take over i... ...chair? I don't know that fully. The CEA historically is on a schedule, it'... ...good friends, so we made a deal, the CEA won't do anything without—we'll bot... ...agree. And if we both agree, then the CEA will do it. [Laughs] And it was funn... ...but at that time the members of the CEA had to be confirmed by the Senate. An... ...of us the chair, or something, but the CEA 's got to do stuff.” When they have ... ...suggest. That's the backdrop on our CEA side that we're trying to figure out... ...of negotiations, positioning. What the CEA does, does it change during this perio... ...Most of the change that happened with CEA is during the financial crisis and th... ...operation of the government. And the CEA is taking part in the flow of norma... ...two years. Then, in the third year, the CEA —I'm becoming the chair, so I'... ...transition. But, for sure, what the CEA is working on is shifting quite a lo... ...you choose to leave? Like I say, the CEA is mostly academics. The University o... ...are mostly about politics. And the CEA is not very political, so it's a weir... Show more... Janet Murguía ...and his deputy, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman on, in particular, housin... Sharon Block ...to get—the policy councils, especially CEA [Council of Economic Advisors]... ...policy councils, especially CEA [ Council of Economic Advisors ], obviously took a very stron... Tommy Vietor ...[D.] Goolsbee, who went on to run the Council of Economic Advisers ; he sat in a cubicle across from me... Danielle Gray ...meeting. And I would have the head of CEA [Council of Economic Advisors] in th... ...And I would have the head of CEA [ Council of Economic Advisors ] in the meeting, and the deput... 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