Prof. Carl Shapiro to be Nominated to President’s Council of Economic Advisers

President Barack Obama on Wednesday, Feb. 23, announced his intent to nominate Haas Professor Carl Shapiro as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

In addition, President Obama on Wednesday announced his intent to nominate Haas Professor and former Dean Laura Tyson and Haas alumnus Paul Otellini, MBA 74, CEO of Intel, to the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which was created in January. The council held its first meeting Thursday.

The Council of Economic Advisers, comprised of a chairman and one member, is charged with providing the president with advice on both domestic and international economic policy. Once confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Shapiro will succeed Cecilia Rouse, who will be leaving the Council of Economic Advisers to return to Princeton University.

“Carl Shapiro has demonstrated knowledge and dedication throughout his career," President Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. "I am grateful that he has chosen to take on this important role, and I look forward to working with him in the months and years to come."

Shapiro, the Haas School's Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy, is currently on leave to serve as the deputy assistant attorney general for economics in the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, where he supervises more than fifty PhD economists in the Antitrust Division’s Economic Analysis Group. He also served in this role from 1995 to 1996.

Shapiro, a professor at Haas since 1990, helped establish UC Berkeley as a leading force in patent reform by bringing Federal Trade Commission hearings to the Haas School and organizing a campus-wide conference on patent reform.

In 1999, Shapiro and Haas Professor Hal Varian (now on leave to serve as chief economist at Google) co-authored Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, a widely acclaimed book that deconstructs the economic factors affecting information technology markets.

After his confirmation, Shapiro will join a growing cast of Haas School and UC Berkeley faculty members who have served on the Council of Economic Advisers. They include Haas Professor and former Dean Laura Tyson, who served from 1993 to 1995, and Haas Professor Emerita Janet Yellen, who served from 1997 to 1999. UC Berkeley Economics Professor Christina Romer served as chairperson of the council from 2009 to 2010. Haas professors Jonathan Leonard, David Levine, and Jim Wilcox have served on the staff of the council as senior economists.

Updated Feb. 24, 2011

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