Kenneth W. Dam, Former Deputy Treasury Secretary, Joins Brookings

Kenneth W. Dam, deputy secretary of the treasury from 2001 to 2003, has joined the Brookings Institution as a senior fellow in the Economic Studies and Governance Studies programs.

“All of us at Brookings are delighted that Ken has chosen Brookings as the place where he will conduct his research after his service in the Bush administration,” said Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution. “I’m personally pleased to welcome Ken in this new capacity, since he has been a good friend over the years, generous with his advice and support. He has also been a splendid trustee of this institution.”

“He exemplifies the ‘scholar-practitioner’ we value so highly here, and we’ll benefit from the government experience he brings to his research,” added Robert E. Litan, vice president and director of the Brookings Economic Studies program.

Dam, who also will be resuming his position as Max Pam Professor of American and Foreign Law at the University of Chicago Law School, will be affiliated with the Brookings Global Poverty Reduction Initiative. The new initiative incorporates the work of a number of Brookings scholars on economic development, foreign aid, and poverty reduction in developing nations. Dam’s research will focus on the linkages between legal institutions and economic growth in developing countries.

As deputy secretary, Dam played a key role in formulating and executing the Treasury Department’s policies and programs, and was particularly involved in the Bush administration’s efforts to cut off financial support for terrorists as well as in the administration’s international initiatives on financial services and taxation.

Dam has held several other high level government positions, including deputy secretary of state (1982-85), executive director of the White House Council on Economic Policy (1973), and program assistant director for national security and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (1971-73). He also has been the corporate vice president for law and external relations at IBM, the interim president and chief executive officer of the United Way of America—where he headed an investigation into scandals within the corporate leadership that lead to an internal reorganization—and provost of the University of Chicago.

Dam is well known as an arbitrator in complex litigation, particularly for his role as System Arbitrator from 1996 to 2001 in the collective bargaining agreement between the National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association.

He is the author of several books, including The Rules of the Global Game: A New Look at U.S. International Economic Policymaking (2001); Economic Policy Beyond the Headlines, with George P. Shultz (second edition, 1998); and The Rules of the Game: Reform and Evolution in the International Monetary System (1982).