President Donald Trump has nominated University of Minnesota Professor Christopher Phelan to lead the Council of Economic Advisers.
The White House announced Tuesday that Trump has nominated Phelan, who specializes in macroeconomic theory, to be chairman of the CEA. If confirmed by the Senate, he will replace acting Chairman Pierre Yared, who will return to teaching at Columbia Business School.
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Phelan received his doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago. Phelan has taught several courses at the University of Minnesota, including macro- and microeconomic theory, public economics, and a class on the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the university.
In addition to his tenure as an economics professor, Phelan worked as a senior economist at the Federal Reserve from 1998 to 2007, according to his LinkedIn page.
“President Trump has assembled the best and most experienced economic team in modern history, and with elite degrees from the University of Chicago, experience as a Federal Reserve advisor, and a deep research background at the University of Minnesota, Chris Phelan will be a key addition to the Administration,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement provided to the Washington Examiner.
Yared had been filling in as chairman of the CEA ever since the previous chairman, Stephen Miran, was appointed to fill a vacant spot on the Fed’s Board of Governors.
If confirmed, the CEA chairman will play an important role at a time when energy prices have spiked due to the war in Iran, causing headline inflation to tick up. He will also have to navigate a labor market that has shown indications of a gradual slowdown.
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Consumer views of the macroeconomic landscape have also soured.
Consumer sentiment fell to a record low in April, dropping below levels seen during the worst of the Great Recession and during the country’s COVID-19 lockdown, according to a preliminary reading of the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April released last week.