One of Obama's more liberal economic advisors Austan Goolsbee

[mucifer]

Technology and the economy
KEY ECONOMIST | Wunderkind Austan Goolsbee has the president-elect's ear on fixing U.S. finance

November 11, 2008
BY SANDRA GUY

A Chicago economist who foresaw the market-driven advantages of the Internet and who is among President-elect Barack Obama's brain trust is expected to head the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Austan Goolsbee, 39, is a University of Chicago Booth Business School professor and political newbie who describes himself as a research academic and a Jon Stewart Democrat. Goolsbee helped shape Obama's technology-centric campaign and positions, and is part of the University of Chicago's new generation of economists who focus on data-driven, empirical theories.
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University of Chicago business professor Austan Goolsbee brings a new outlook on economics to the Obama administration's quest to fix the economy.

Goolsbee's appointment is expected to occur within a few weeks, after Obama names his treasury secretary and the head of the National Economic Council. Goolsbee would take a leave of absence from the university.
Retirement savings

Goolsbee and the new generation of university economists respect classical Milton Freidman-style economics but have turned to the study of people's behavior to help explain what was long thought to be a rational science. He is good friends with colleagues Steven Levitt, author of the best-seller Freakonomics, and Richard Thaler, co-author with Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein of Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness.

Goolsbee understands that many people won't save for retirement on their own, so it makes sense for employers to automatically enroll them in savings plans, with the option of opting out.

Goolsbee understands that many people won't save for retirement on their own, so it makes sense for employers to automatically enroll them in savings plans, with the option of opting out.

"For people who don't have savings now, that's the most effective" way to get people to start saving, said Goolsbee, who made headlines during Obama's campaign for reportedly saying that Obama's criticisms of the North American Free Trade Agreement amounted to "political positioning" and not policy. The Obama campaign denied the stories.

Goolsbee was also influential in Obama's advocacy of an income tax break for 95 percent of workers and their families.
Role of the Internet

Goolsbee gets that the Internet plays a democratizing role.

"The role of technology comes out of the role of the Internet, allowing people to gather information about prices, about competitors and making industries more competitive to the benefit of consumers," Goolsbee said. "That ethos underlies the idea that we can count on the spread of information to improve the function of government."

more at:
http://www.suntimes.com/technology/guy/1271679,CST-FIN-goolsbee11.article

well he's not as liberal as I'd like him to be but better than some.

[Thrill]

1. I wonder if Obama will give Voker the Treasury spot for a yr

and then let Austan Goolsbee take over?