Obama Top Economic Adviser Goolsbee to Step Down

The White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, has decided to resign later this year to return to academia.
Obama Top Economic Adviser Goolsbee to Step Down
Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee speaks during a news briefing at the South Court Auditorium at Eisenhower Executive Office Building of the White House on Feb. 14, 2011. Goolsbee said on May 19 in New York that not raising the U.S. debt ceiling would be bad for the economy. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
6/6/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/109084314.jpg" alt="Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee speaks during a news briefing last February in Washington, DC. Goolsbee, has decided to resign later this year to return to academia.    (Alex Wong/Getty Images)" title="Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee speaks during a news briefing last February in Washington, DC. Goolsbee, has decided to resign later this year to return to academia.    (Alex Wong/Getty Images)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1803098"/></a>
Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee speaks during a news briefing last February in Washington, DC. Goolsbee, has decided to resign later this year to return to academia.    (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The White House said on Monday that President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, has decided to resign later this year to return to academia.

Goolsbee, 41, is planning to return to his position as an economics professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business for the upcoming school year.

“Since I first ran for the U.S. Senate, Austan has been a close friend and one of my most trusted advisers,” Obama said in a White House statement.

“Over the past several years, he has helped steer our country out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and although there is still much work ahead, his insights and counsel have helped lead us toward an economy that is growing and creating millions of jobs. He is one of America’s great economic thinkers.”

When Goolsbee assumed his post under the Obama administration in September 2010, he had been a professor at the University of Chicago for 14 years.

“Working each day on behalf of the American people has been a rare privilege, particularly at such a historic time,” Goolsbee said.

“While I am looking forward to returning home to Chicago, I will always be proud of the years I have spent working for this president. I believe that his judgment, his courage in confronting the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes, and his commitment to the American people have made a tremendous difference for the nation.”

Goolsbee received his master’s degree in economics from Yale University and went on to receive his Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology.