Benjamin H. Harris (born July 17, 1977) is an American

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

who has served in several public-service positions, most notably as the chief economist and chief economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden from 2014 until the end of the Obama administration. Harris is currently the executive director of the Kellogg Public-Private Interface at the

Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

, the Chief Economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, and the founder of the economic policy consulting firm Cherrydale Strategies. He is also a frequent contributor to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

.'' Harris remained a close adviser to Joe Biden following the end of the Obama administration, serving as the chief editor of the Biden Forum and as an economic adviser to the former vice president throughout his 2020 presidential campaign. Harris’s research and policy focus includes the subjects of tax, budget, and retirement security. He has published a variety of papers and policy briefs related to topics in public finance and is regularly cited in media reports related to fiscal policy. On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Harris to be

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy is the head of the Office of Economic Policy in the United States Department of the Treasury. The position is held by Ben Harris. President Joe Biden announced he would nominate Ben Ha ...

. On April 22, 2021, his nomination was sent to the Senate. He assumed office on November 15, 2021. __TOC__

Early life and education

Harris is a native of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, and was raised primarily on

Bainbridge Island Bainbridge Island is a city and island in Kitsap County, Washington. It is located in Puget Sound. The population was 23,025 at the 2010 census and an estimated 25,298 in 2019, making Bainbridge Island the second largest city in Kitsap County. ...

. He graduated from Bainbridge High School in 1995. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, which he earned in 2011, in addition to three master's degrees: an M.Phil. in economics from

in 2010, an M.A. in economics from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 2005, and an M.A. in quantitative methods from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 2003. Harris earned his B.A. in economics from

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

in 1999. He was awarded a

Fulbright Scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

in 2000.

Career

One of the earliest roles for Harris was as a senior economist with the Budget Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He went on to serve as a research economist at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

, and later as the policy director of

The Hamilton Project The Hamilton Project is an economic policy initiative within the Brookings Institution. It was originally launched in April 2006 by a combination of public policy makers, business people, academic leaders, and other former Clinton administration ...

, a fellow in Economic Studies at the

, and deputy director of the Retirement Security Project at

Brookings Brookings may refer to: Organizations * Brookings Institution, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Places * Brookings, Oregon, USA * Brookings, South Dakota, USA * Brookings County, South Dakota, USA ...

. Between 2011 and 2013, Harris worked at the White House as a senior economist with the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the President of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

, where he specialized in fiscal policy and retirement security. After leaving his first stint with the Obama administration, he served as a senior research associate with the

Urban Institute The Urban Institute is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank that carries out economic and social policy research to "open minds, shape decisions, and offer solutions". The institute receives funding from government contracts, foundations and pr ...

and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. In December 2014, Harris returned to the White House when Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. tapped him to serve as his chief economist and economic advisor. He continued in that role through the end of the Obama administration in January 2017. After leaving the White House, Harris went to work for Rokos Capital Management as a senior economic policy adviser. He quickly made a transition back to academic and nonprofit work, serving as the chief economist to the evidence-based policy organization Results for America, chief editor of the Biden Forum, and visiting associate professor at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Currently, his primary positions are executive director of the Kellogg Public-Private Interface at Northwestern University, president of Cherrydale Strategies, in addition to his role with Results for America. Harris, who has a prominent role in shaping the economic policy platforms of the Biden 2020 presidential campaign, has been identified as one of a select group of economists regularly advising Biden. Harris was also named a member of the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, serving as one of Biden's five delegates on the economic policy committee. In April 2020, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Harris will sit on the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

COVID-19 Recovery Task Force to advise city government as economic recovery planning efforts get underway in the wake of COVID-19. Throughout his career, Harris has taught at various institutions including the

Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

, the

University of Maryland School of Public Policy The Maryland School of Public Policy is one of 14 schools at the University of Maryland, College Park. The school is located inside the Capital Beltway and ranks 16th nationally for schools of public policy according to '' U.S. News & World Report ...

, and the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. He and his wife, Jessica Lynn, live in the Washington, D.C., area with their three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Ben 1977 births 21st-century American economists Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Cornell University alumni Obama administration personnel Biden administration personnel George Washington University alumni Living people People from Bainbridge Island, Washington Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni United States Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury Fulbright alumni