The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution Appoints Wendy Edelberg as New Director

Washington, DC – Wendy Edelberg, former Chief Economist at the Congressional Budget Office, has been appointed to succeed Jay Shambaugh as director of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Edelberg will also join the Economic Studies program as a senior fellow.

Launched in 2006 as an economic policy center at the Brookings Institution, The Hamilton Project seeks to advance inclusive economic growth. The Hamilton Project achieves this by providing a platform for a broad range of leading economic thinkers to introduce innovative and pragmatic policy options into the national debate.

Jason Furman, a Hamilton Project Advisory Council member, Professor of Practice at the Harvard Kennedy School and former Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers said: “I’m thrilled Wendy Edelberg will be bringing her vast talents and experience to continuing to drive the Hamilton Project and its evidence-based agenda forward.”

Edelberg, whose appointment was effective June 1, 2020, received her M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and her Ph.D. from the Department of Economics from the University of Chicago. She joins The Hamilton Project after more than 15 years in the public sector. Prior to working at the Congressional Budget Office, Edelberg served as the executive director of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Shambaugh will return to full-time teaching and research this fall at George Washington University.

“I am delighted to join The Hamilton Project and have the opportunity to build upon its esteemed legacy of advancing inclusive economic growth through evidence-based policy proposals,” said Edelberg. “I look forward to working closely with our nation’s foremost economists, and The Hamilton Project’s Advisory Council and team, to contribute to the development of substantive policy proposals.”

Praise for Edelberg’s appointment was offered by Phill Swagel, Director of the Congressional Budget Office: “Wendy combined rigorous economic analysis, a keen sense of the information that Congress needed in considering policy, and a knack for expressing complicated analyses in ways that were accessible for policymakers. And she did this in a way that encouraged CBO analysts to contribute – she made everyone she worked with better.”

Robert E. Rubin, one of the founders of The Hamilton Project and the nation’s 70^th Treasury Secretary, offered his appreciation for Shambaugh’s leadership: “Jay has provided enormously thoughtful and creative leadership to The Hamilton Project, resulting in ground breaking research and robust policy discussions that have contributed meaningfully to shaping the national economic discourse. We look forward to his remaining active in the work of The Hamilton Project in the years going forward as a member of our Advisory Council.”

In addition to Edelberg, The Hamilton Project leadership team includes: the Project’s managing director, Kriston McIntosh, who oversees the daily operations, outreach and communications; and Lauren Bauer who serves as Interim Policy Director and as a fellow in the Economic Studies program.