Kevin Hassett

Kevin Hassett
Senior Advisor to the President for Economic Issues
In office
April 15, 2020 – July 1, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byVacant
29th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
In office
September 13, 2017 – June 28, 2019
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJason Furman
Succeeded byTomas J. Philipson (Acting)
Personal details
Born
Kevin Allen Hassett

(1962-03-20) March 20, 1962 (age 62)
Greenfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKristie
Children2
EducationSwarthmore College (BA)
University of Pennsylvania
(MA, PhD)

Kevin Allen Hassett (born March 20, 1962) is an American economist who is a former Senior Advisor and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. He coauthored Dow 36,000, published in 1999, which argued that the stock market was about to have a massive swing upward and would reach 36,000 by 2004.[1] Shortly thereafter, the dot-com bubble burst, causing a massive decline in stock market prices. The Dow did not reach 36,000 until late 2021.[1]

Hassett has worked at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.[2] He was John McCain's chief economic adviser in the 2000 presidential primaries, as well as economic adviser to the 2004 campaign of George W. Bush and 2008 campaign of McCain. He was an economic adviser on Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.[3]

In the Trump administration, Hassett was the 29th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from September 2017 to June 2019.[4][5][6][7] He returned to the White House in 2020 to work on the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Hassett did not focus on public health policy, but rather influenced the administration's response from an economic angle amid lockdowns and social distancing.[8][9] Hassett built a model that indicated that COVID-19 deaths would drop off to near zero by May 2020.[8][10] Hassett's model contradicted assessments by public health experts, and was widely panned by academics and commentators.[9][11]

  1. ^ a b Watts, William. "Dow 36,000: Industrials briefly top milestone, putting spotlight on 1999 book". MarketWatch. Retrieved March 18, 2024.
  2. ^ Thomas, Lauren; Mui, Ylan (February 24, 2017). "Trump picks conservative think tanker to chair Council of Economic Advisers". CNBC. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
  3. ^ "Who Are Obama's and Romney's Key Economic Advisers?". nationaljournal.com.
  4. ^ Michelle Jamrisko (April 7, 2017). "Trump Names Hassett to Head Council of Economic Advisers". Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
  5. ^ Long, Heather (April 10, 2017). "Meet Trump's newest economic adviser: Kevin Hassett". CNNMoney. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  6. ^ Lawler, Joseph (September 12, 2017). "Roll call vote PN457". United States Senate. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference wsjleave was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).