Brian S. Wesbury (born September 8, 1958) 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 ...

focusing on

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

and

economic forecasting Economic forecasting is the process of making predictions about the economy. Forecasts can be carried out at a high level of aggregation—for example for GDP, inflation, unemployment or the fiscal deficit—or at a more disaggregated level, for ...

. He is the economics editor and a monthly contributor for ''

The American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor-i ...

'', in addition to appearing on television stations such as

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

, and Bloomberg TV frequently. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Council of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (informally the Chicago Fed) is one of twelve regional Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, make up the United States' central bank. The Chicago Reserve Bank serves the Sevent ...

, and for five years served as an adjunct professor of economics at

Wheaton College Wheaton College may refer to: * Wheaton College (Illinois), a private Christian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois * Wheaton College (Massachusetts) Wheaton College is a private liberal arts college in Norton, Massachus ...

in Wheaton,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

Early life and education

Wesbury was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He attended Rock Bridge High School in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

. In 1981, Wesbury received his BA in

Economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

. Wesbury also attended

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

for graduate level business studies, and received his MBA from

's Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1989.

Professional career

In 1982, Wesbury began his career at the Harris Bank in

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

. Wesbury served as Vice President and Economist for the Chicago Corporation from 1990 to 1992 and then as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist for Griffin, Kubik, Stephens, & Thompson, a Chicago Investment Bank from 1992 until 2005, except for 2 years while he served on Capitol Hill. In 1995 and 1996, Wesbury served as Chief Economist for the

Joint Economic Committee The Joint Economic Committee (JEC) is one of four standing joint committees of the U.S. Congress. The committee was established as a part of the Employment Act of 1946, which deemed the committee responsible for reporting the current economic co ...

of the U.S. Congress. In October 1999, McGraw-Hill published Wesbury's first book, "The New Era of Wealth". In 2004, Wesbury was honored by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' as one of the top 10 economic forecasters in the United States, and ranked by ''

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 ...

'' as the nation's #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001. Since 2006 Wesbury has been the Chief Economist at First Trust Advisors L.P, a financial services firm headquartered in Wheaton, Illinois. In October 2009, Wiley & Sons published Wesbury's second book "It's Not as Bad as You Think"

Chief Economist of the Joint Economic Committee

Beginning in January 1995, this Committee provided information for members of the

US Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washingto ...

regarding policy decision-making and economic growth objectives. Here, Wesbury directed and advised committee members and members of congress on policy matters and relating to the United States and other nations.

Wesbury after Government

After a 13-year stay as Chief Economist for Chicago investment bank Griffin, Kubik, Stephens, & Thompson, and time away from the private sector to serve in government, Wesbury is currently Chief Economist for First Trust Portfolios, a financial services firm located in

Wheaton, Illinois Wheaton is a suburban city in Milton and Winfield Townships and is the county seat of DuPage County, Illinois. It is located approximately west of Chicago. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 52,894, which was estimated ...

References

Bibliography

* *Brian Wesbury (2008) The Economy Is Fine (Really), Wall Street Journal Commentary, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120147855494820719 * *"Brian Wesbury Sees No Recession Ahead", Human Events Interview by Bill Steigerwald, https://web.archive.org/web/20080501031843/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25189 *"The Budget and the Economy: Brian S. Wesbury Testimony before the Senate Committee on the Budget." Full Text: https://web.archive.org/web/20070201023050/http://budget.senate.gov/democratic/testimony/2002/wesbury_hrng012902.pdf *"Wesbury "Best Economic Forecaster" Full text: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/spr04/inbrief/wesbury.htm *"Fair but Unbalanced" Wall Street Journal full text: http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110010446 *"Pouting Pundits of Pessisism" Wall Street Journal full text: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007622 *"Nationally Renowned U.S. Economic Forecaster, Joins The Heartland Institute as Senior Fellow" The Heartland Institute. Press Release http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17250 *"Wesbury Led a Group Of Bears Who Called The Recession of 2001" Wall Street Journal full text: https://web.archive.org/web/20130213091237/http://www.camillieconomics.com/docs/WSJ2002.html *"Wonderful Wesbury" Rich Karlgaard Forbes Magazine 2004 Full Text: https://www.forbes.com/global/2004/0112/135.html

External links

Wesbury's participation in panel discussion, ''The Economics of National Security: The Cost Today, The Price Tomorrow''
at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and a research library for the study of military history on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. The institution was founded in 2003, and its spe ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wesbury, Brian Kellogg School of Management alumni The American Spectator people Human Events people 1958 births Living people Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty People from Columbia, Missouri Rock Bridge High School alumni Economists from Missouri 21st-century American economists People from Ann Arbor, Michigan