Columbia University School of Social Work Alumnus Jared Bernstein Appointed Chief Economic Advisor to Vice President-Elect Joseph Biden

Announcement

December 10, 2008

Jared Bernstein, a Columbia University School of Social Work (PhD’94) alumnus, has been appointed by Vice President-Elect Joseph Biden as Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser.

“We are proud of Jared Bernstein’s many accomplishments as a scholar and as a public intellectual,” says Dean Jeanette Takamura. “Vice President-Elect Joseph Biden recognized what we have known well when he tapped Dr. Bernstein for an important leadership role in the Office of the Vice President: Dr. Bernstein’s work is stellar and he will serve the nation with distinction.”

Dr. Bernstein currently serves as the Director of the Living Standards program at the Economic Policy Institute. From 1995-1996, he served as Deputy Chief Economist for the Department of Labor under Secretary Robert Reich. Dr. Bernstein’s expertise includes income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, low-wage labor markets and poverty, international comparisons, and the analysis of federal and state economic policies. He is the acclaimed author of Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (And Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries) and All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy, both published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. His work has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, and the American Prospect. He is also a contributor to the financial news station CNBC.

For more information, please contact Jeannie Hii at jy2223@columbia.edu or 212-851-2327.