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Berkeley Talks: Biden economic adviser on building a clean energy economy

In this Berkeley Talks episode, Heather Boushey discusses the president's economic blueprint to reach his goals — what motivated it, what it is, how evidence shows it'll be effective and successes already happening


Read the transcript.

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two people sit at a table with microphones while one of them talks to an audience outside of the frame

Heather Boushey, pictured here in 2009 with then-Vice President Joe Biden, is now a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist to the Investing in America Cabinet. (Center for American Progress photo)

In Berkeley Talks episode 172, Heather Boushey, a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and chief economist to the Investing in America Cabinet, discusses Biden’s plan to build a clean energy economy in the U.S.

“The president has made clear, I feel like gazillions of times at this point, that his goal is to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out,” began Boushey at the March 22 event at UC Berkeley. “He wants an economy where growth is strong, sustainable. Where gains are broadly shared. Where the economy is stable, not just strong. Where our industries are globally competitive. Where we have a strong and vibrant middle class. Where we run our economy on clean energy and we bring down carbon emissions. And where we move beyond longstanding inequities.

“And so, we at the CEA, we help the president as he is thinking about the economics behind how we’re going to do this. And so, today’s conversation, what I want to spend the next little bit of time talking to you about, is about the president’s economic blueprint to reach his goals — what motivated it, what it is, why we believe that the evidence shows us that it’ll be effective and what successes that we’re already seeing.”

Listen to Boushey’s full lecture, followed by a Q&A with the audience, in Berkeley Talks episode 172, “Biden economic adviser on building a clean energy economy.”

This talk was co-sponsored by the Berkeley Society and Economy Initiative, the Network for a New Political Economy, the Stone Center on Wealth and Income Inequality, and Social Science Matrix.

Watch a video of Boushey’s talk below.

Heather Boushey, a member of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers and chief economist to the Investing in America Cabinet, gave a talk on March 22, 2023, at UC Berkeley called “The modern American industrial strategy: Building a clean economy from the bottom up and middle out.”

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