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Berkeley economist Maurice Obstfeld named to White House Council of Economic Advisers

By Kathleen Maclay

University of California, Berkeley, economist Maurice Obstfeld, an authority on international economics, will join President Obamas Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), the White House announced on Tuesday (June 3).

He will replace James Stock, who will return to Harvard University in July.

Maury blends incredible academic expertise with extensive real world experience. He is not only smart, but practical and wise, said Christina Romer, a UC Berkeley professor of economics and the first chair of the CEA in the Obama White House. He is a great addition to the Obama administration, particularly at a time when international economic issues are so central.

Maurince Obstfeld will join the White House Council of Economic Advisers this summer.

Maurice Obstfeld will join the White House Council of Economic Advisers this summer.

Other economists from UC Berkeley who have served as members of the Council of Economic Advisers include Janet Yellen, an emeritus professor at the Haas School of Business and current head of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank; Laura Tyson, a professor at the Haas School of Business and on the Economics Department faculty; and Carl Shapiro, also of the Haas School of Business and on the faculty of the Economics Department as well.

Serving terms as senior economist for the CEA have been UC Berkeley economists Aaron Edlin (on the faculty of the Economics Department and Berkeley School of Law), Jesse Rothstein (on the faculty of the Goldman School of Public Policy and Economics Department), David Levine of Berkeley-Haas, Jonathan Leonard, also at Berkeley-Haas; and William Dow, an economist at the School of Public Health.

Maury is a fantastic choice for the council, which will greatly benefit from his expertise in international macroeconomics and finance, said Economics Department Chair James L. Powell. We will miss his leadership and collegiality, but we are proud that he is continuing the long Berkeley tradition of advising the nations leaders on matters of economic policy.

Obstfeld is the Class of 1958 Professor of Economics and has been the director of the Center for International and Development Economic Research at UC Berkeley. He joined UC Berkeley in 1989, following appointments at Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979.

He is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and also is an International Research Fellow at the Kiel Institute of World Economics. In addition, Obstfeld is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in Washington, D.C.