Christina Romer to chair the CEA

Via Greg Mankiw.  She understands the Great Depression very well.  Here are previous MR entries on Christina Romer, mostly touching on macroeconomics.  I can’t vouch for her managerial or political abilities one way or the other, but intellectually this is a very good pick.  Here is one report on the announcement.

Here is the National Journal on the work of Christina and David Romer on fiscal policy:

At the same time that Obama is calling for higher income taxes on people making $250,000 or more, the Romers have found that tax increases are generally bad for economic growth and that they primarily discourage investment — the supply-side argument that conservatives use to justify tax cuts for the rich. On the other hand, the Romers have shredded the conservative premise that tax cuts eventually force spending reductions (‘starving the beast’). Instead, they concluded that tax reductions lead only to one thing — offsetting tax increases to recover lost revenue.

Here is the MR entry on that paper, please do read it again to receive a dose of good news.  Here is Romer’s home page.  Here is her soon to be longer Wikipedia page.