December 18, 2012

American Enterprise Institute president Arthur C. Brooks announced today that AEI senior fellow and director of economic policy studies Kevin A. Hassett has been named to the Institute’s John G. Searle Chair. At AEI, Hassett studies the US economy, tax and fiscal policy, and the federal budget.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to name Kevin to this chair. As one of our nation’s foremost experts on economic and tax policy and one of AEI’s most prolific scholars, Kevin embodies the chair’s vision and purposes to study and promote those values that permit the free society to function and flourish,” said Brooks. “Kevin’s empirical research is consistently relied upon and referenced by policymakers, journalists, business leaders, and other academics, bearing significant impact on the policy debates,” continued Brooks.

Before joining AEI in 1997, Hassett was a senior economist on the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, an associate professor of economics and finance at Columbia Business School, and a policy consultant to the US Department of the Treasury during the George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. He served as an economic adviser during George W. Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign, as chief economic adviser to Senator John McCain during the 2000 presidential primaries, as senior economic adviser during the McCain 2008 presidential campaign, and as an economic adviser during the Romney 2012 presidential campaign. The author of countless books, journal articles, and op-eds (including a regular column for National Review), Hassett will release an edited volume this month that explains how the American economy can compete in a dynamic world.

“It is an honor to hold the chair at AEI bearing the Searle name,” said Hassett. “The Searle family has made possible some of AEI’s best work on economics, tax, and fiscal policy, for which my colleagues and I are enormously grateful. I will work to uphold John G. Searle’s legacy by helping to restore the principles of personal responsibility and limited government that our Founding Fathers established.”

The John G. Searle Chair at AEI was established in 1998 by Searle Family Trust founder Daniel C. Searle. John G. Searle was the grandson of the founder of the worldwide pharmaceutical company G. D. Searle & Company. The chair was most recently held by the eminent legal scholar Michael S. Greve, now a visiting scholar at AEI and a full-time professor at George Mason School of Law.

Hassett can be reached at khassett@aei.org or through his assistant, Emma Bennett, at emma.bennett@aei.org or 202.862.5862.

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