About

Jason Furman is the Aetna Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard's Department of Economics. He serves as the Weil Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School. Furman is a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and co-teaches the course 'Principles of Economics,' which is the largest at Harvard. His research and writing span U.S. and international macroeconomics, fiscal policy, labor markets, and competition policy. From 2013 to 2017, Furman served as the 28th Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, acting as President Obama's chief economist and a member of the cabinet, marking eight years as a top economic adviser in the Obama White House.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Sociology
• Economics
• Demographic economics
• Demography
• Political economy
• Psychology
• Economic growth
• Social psychology
• Development economics
• Medicine
• Public administration
• Law
• Developmental psychology

Selected publications

• Fed Independence: Safe for Now, but Under Long-Term Threat

  Intereconomics · 2026-02-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Does Trump Know What He Wants from Europe or How to Get It?

  Intereconomics · 2025-06-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Inequality and the Business Cycle

  2025-03-27

  book-chapterSenior author

  Abstract This chapter explores empirically and theoretically the two-way relationship between inequality and fluctuations. It explains why downturns worsen inequality in labor income. The reduction of hours worked is not well-distributed. Some individuals lose their jobs, while others have only a mild reduction in hours worked. Those who lose their jobs are disproportionately the poor. Moreover, the greater the initial level of inequality, before the downturn, the larger the impact on inequality. It also discusses a variety of other channels through which an economic downturn worsens inequality in search cost and efficiency wage models. It also explains why economies with greater and increasing inequality may be subject to instability. An increase in inequality results in lower aggregate demand, and if the Central Bank responds by lowering interest rates, a bubble may be created.

  PublisherDOI

• The Resilient Society

  Journal of Economic Literature · 2024-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Jason Furman of Harvard University reviews “The Resilient Society” by Markus K. Brunnermeier. The Econlit abstract of this book begins: “Promotes the view that rather than attempting to avoid risks, societies that are resilient to adverse shocks should be proactively developed, addressing how a resilient social contract can be implemented either by governments or via social norms.”

  PublisherDOI

• Starting health reform from here

  Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · 2024-04-30 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Which direction should we head to get to our North Star?

  Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · 2024-04-30

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Inflation: lessons in forecasting and humility

  ˜The œbusiness & management collection. · 2023-02-12

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Comments and Discussion

  Brookings Papers on Economic Activity · 2023-03-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Why Did (Almost) No One See the Inflation Coming?

  Intereconomics · 2022-03-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract To understand the possible trajectory of inflation in 2022 and beyond, it is helpful to understand why the United States and Europe had so much inflation in 2021.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Comments and Discussion

  Brookings Papers on Economic Activity · 2022-09-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Tim Besley

  London School of Economics and Political Science

  49 shared

• Ricardo Hausmann

  Santa Fe Institute

  49 shared

• Francesco Caselli

  National Bureau of Economic Research

  49 shared

• Erik Berglöf

  London School of Economics and Political Science

  49 shared

• Paul D. Sullivan

  Botsford Hospital

  49 shared

• Michael Ignatieff

  49 shared

• Nick Stern

  Aintree University Hospital

  49 shared

• Edward R. Murrow

  New York University

  49 shared

Labs

• Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and GovernmentPI

Awards & honors

• Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (2013-2017)