"As many of you have heard, after 16 (!) years at EPI, I’m going to work for the new administration, as chief economic advisor to Joe Biden. The VP office has big plans to move our issues—the kinds of things we’ve been writing about in SWA for decades—and if it goes as planned, I’ll be a participating member on the top decision making teams at the White House. I spent a great hour with the VP-elect a week ago (except when he offered me a coffee, and then made me a cup of instant!) and was really heartened to hear how much he “gets it” on the econ front.
Without a shred of doubt, I wouldn’t have this opportunity were it not for my tenure here. EPI is where I learned economics--political economics, really (and there’s no other kind, as far as I’m concerned)--and I know the institute will continue to play its critical role in shaping the debate. In fact, we (can I still say “we”?) are poised to become a lot more important, now that most of the economic elite has learned that we’ve been right about a lot of stuff for a long time. And I plan to involve EPI in whatever I can from the inside...."- the rest of the email gets mushy
While this is not a limelight position, it is good news. JQ- what do you think?
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3 comments:
This is great news but..
Is this a confidential email? If so, I'm not sure it should be out in the public domain like this.
well, good point- but it seems to have been circulating around a bit...i will take it down if folks think i should
In answer to Megnanimous' question, I don't know if I like this move.
I like Bernstein, and I think there should be a governance role for him, but I don't know if being on the vice-president's staff is a good way to do this. He likely will be very removed from any real power or decision making.
Given that, I wonder if he would have been better off staying at EPI, where he could write, opine, do media work, etc. There are so few progressive economists that it seems a shame to lose a respected public voice without gaining much influence in exchange.
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