David H. Autor (born c. 1967 ) is an American economist , public policy scholar, and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he also acts as co-director of the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative. Although Autor has contributed to a variety of fields in economics his research generally focuses on topics from labor economics .
29-641: The Congressional Budget Office ( CBO ) is a federal agency within the legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress. Inspired by California's Legislative Analyst's Office that manages the state budget in a strictly nonpartisan fashion, the CBO was created as a nonpartisan agency by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 . Whereas politicians on both sides of
58-451: A Democratic -controlled Congress . Congress wanted to protect its power of the purse from the executive. The CBO was created "within the legislative branch to bolster Congress's budgetary understanding and ability to act. Lawmakers' aim was both technical and political: Generate a source of budgetary expertise to aid in writing annual budgets and lessen the legislature's reliance on the president's Office of Management and Budget ." In 2015,
87-533: A Boston hospital. He later returned to college, ultimately earning a B.A. in psychology from Tufts University in 1989. After graduating from Tufts, he pursued volunteer work at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco that was teaching computer skills to disadvantaged students. In the Bay Area, Autor discovered his passion for economics and public policy and pursued an M.A. and Ph.D. in public policy from
116-478: A consensus behind the notion that "adjusting for legal restrictions on what the CBO can assume about future legislation and events, the CBO has historically issued credible forecasts of the effects of both Democratic and Republican legislative proposals." According to MIT economist David Autor , the "CBO has a good track record with a very difficult assignment. It errs, but not systematically or with partisan intent." According to Yale economist Christopher Udry , "There
145-718: A small number of independent agencies that are not considered part of the executive branch, such as the Congressional Research Service and the United States Sentencing Commission , which are legislative and judicial agencies, respectively. The U.S. Congress is the bicameral legislature of the United States government, and is made up of two chambers: the United States Senate (the upper chamber) and
174-460: A term of office, the person serving as Director may continue in the position until his or her successor is appointed. The list of directors of the CBO are: Whereas politicians on both sides of the aisle have criticized the CBO when its estimates have been politically inconvenient, economists and other academics overwhelmingly reject that the CBO is partisan or that it fails to produce credible forecasts. A March 2017 survey of leading economists shows
203-634: Is divided into nine divisions. The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate jointly appoint the CBO Director after considering recommendations from the two budget committees. The term of office is four years, with no limit on the number of terms a director may serve. Either house of Congress, however, may remove the director by resolution. At the expiration of
232-649: Is no credible evidence of partisan bias." Economist Walter E. Williams , a classical liberal , wrote in 1998 that the CBO was well-regarded for its "honest numbers" on fiscal and economic matters. According to the Los Angeles Times , "the CBO's analyses and forecasting are regarded as good or better than others doing similar work... economists say that the CBO's economic projections generally compare favorably against other outfits, and its long-term budget estimates have been fairly accurate." According to George Washington University political scientist Sarah Binder,
261-541: Is not in their interest. A weak CBO weakens the Budget Committees, and indeed weakens Congress as a whole in its inevitable battles with the executive over budget and economic policy. List of United States federal agencies [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Legislative definitions of an agency of the federal government of the United States are varied, and even contradictory. The official United States Government Manual offers no definition. While
290-600: Is or has been the editor of economic academic journals such as the Journal of Economic Perspectives (2009–14), Journal of Labor Economics (2007–08), Journal of Economic Literature (2004–06) and the Review of Economics and Statistics (2002-2008). Finally, he is a co-director of the MIT School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a research program focusing on the economics of education and
319-455: Is quite surprising, in a sense, given the partisan nature of the Congress. It is not necessarily that these partisans have embraced nonpartisanship as a positive end in itself, however. Rather, the Budget Committees (and especially their leadership and staff) have recognized that a weak CBO (one that does not have a reputation for objective analysis, and whose conclusions are viewed as partisan)
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#1732766153578348-680: The Administrative Procedure Act definition of "agency" applies to most executive branch agencies, Congress may define an agency however it chooses in enabling legislation, and through subsequent litigation often involving the Freedom of Information Act and the Government in the Sunshine Act . These further cloud attempts to enumerate a list of agencies. The executive branch of the federal government includes
377-604: The Executive Office of the President and the United States federal executive departments (whose secretaries belong to the Cabinet ). Employees of the majority of these agencies are considered civil servants . The majority of the independent agencies of the United States government are also classified as executive agencies (they are independent in that they are not subordinated under a Cabinet position). There are
406-695: The Executive Residence (EXR) maintained by the Office of Administration (OA). To effectively run the country's affairs, the President also maintains councils regarding various issues, including: David Autor David Autor was raised in Newton, Massachusetts , by parents who were psychologists. He enrolled in Columbia University after high school, but dropped out and worked as an administrative assistant and software developer in
435-511: The John F. Kennedy School of Government ( Harvard University ), which he earned in 1994 and 1999 respectively. After completing his Ph.D., David Autor was hired as assistant professor at MIT's economics department, where he became the Pentti J.K. Kouri Career Development Assistant Professor of Economics in 2002 before being promoted to associate professor in 2003 and receiving tenure in 2005. He
464-540: The United States House of Representatives (the lower chamber). Together, the two chambers exercise authority over the following legislative agencies: The legislature also oversees the Library of Congress (LOC), a national library dedicated to national records, which administers various programs, agencies, and services including: The federal judiciary consists of courts established under Article Three of
493-585: The Brookings Institution reported that since its creation, the CBO has since supplanted the OMB "as the authoritative source of information on the economy and the budget in the eyes of Congress, the press, and the public." The Congressional Budget Office is nonpartisan , and produces "independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to support the Congressional budget process." Each year,
522-572: The CBO "has emerged over its history as a neutral analyst of congressional budgets and cost estimates for proposed legislation." The agency has "a nonpartisan staff culture". Historically, the House Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee have insulated the CBO from external pressures and attempts to politicize or weaken the office. Professor Philip Joyce of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy writes: This
551-556: The Future: Building Better Jobs in Age of Smart Machines" with his colleagues at MIT. In an influential 2013 study co-authored with David Dorn and Gordon H. Hanson, Autor showed that U.S. exposure to Chinese trade competition "caused higher unemployment, lower labor force participation, and reduced wages in local labor markets that house import-competing manufacturing industries". The study nonetheless finds that trade
580-649: The President's Budgetary Proposals for the upcoming fiscal year per a standing request of the Senate Committee on Appropriations . These three series are designated essential titles distributed to Federal Depository Libraries and are available for purchase from the Government Publishing Office . The CBO often provides testimony in response to requests from various Congressional committees and issues letters responding to queries made by members of Congress. The Congressional Budget Office
609-464: The U.S. by requiring rapid skill upgrading, which in turn has increased the labor demand for college graduates relative to workers without tertiary education as well as the wage premium associated with a college degree. In 2009 Autor contributed to the book Studies of Labor Market Intermediation as an editor during his time at the University of Chicago. He would later go on to write "The Work of
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#1732766153578638-611: The United States Constitution . These are the The United States bankruptcy courts , while not established as Article III courts, are legally designated as "units of the district courts." The judicial branch includes the following agencies: The President of the United States is the chief executive of the federal government. He is in charge of executing federal laws and approving, or vetoing, new legislation passed by Congress. The President resides in
667-737: The agency releases reports and cost estimates for proposed legislation, without issuing any policy recommendations. With respect to estimating spending for Congress, the Congressional Budget Office serves a purpose parallel to that of the Joint Committee on Taxation for estimating revenue for Congress, the Department of the Treasury for estimating revenues for the Executive branch . This includes projections on
696-409: The aisle have criticized the CBO when its estimates have been politically inconvenient, economists and other academics overwhelmingly reject that the CBO is partisan or that it fails to produce credible forecasts. There is a consensus among economists that "adjusting for legal restrictions on what the CBO can assume about future legislation and events, the CBO has historically issued credible forecasts of
725-529: The effect on national debt and cost estimates for legislation. Section 202(e) of the Budget Act requires the CBO to submit periodic reports about fiscal policy to the House and Senate budget committees to provide baseline projections of the federal budget. This is currently done by preparation of an annual Economic and Budget Outlook plus a mid-year update. The agency also each year issues An Analysis of
754-443: The effects of both Democratic and Republican legislative proposals." The Congressional Budget Office was created by Title II of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-344), which was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 12, 1974. Official operations began on February 24, 1975, with Alice Rivlin as director. The CBO's creation stems from a fight between President Richard Nixon and
783-897: The relationship between human capital and the American income distribution. He is a research associate at the NBER where he directs the Labor Studies Program, as well as an associate director of the NBER Disability Research Center. David Autor's research primarily focuses on five areas: (1) Inequality, technological change, and globalization; (2) disability and labor force participation; (3) labor market intermediation; (4) neighborhoods, housing market spillovers, and price controls; and (5) labor market impacts of wrongful discharge protections. The economics bibliographic database IDEAS/RePEc ranks him among
812-443: The top 5% of economists under a number of criteria, including average rank score, number of works, and number of citations. His most cited article, co-authored with Alan B. Krueger and Lawrence F. Katz , studies the effect of skill-biased technological change in the form of computerization on the diverging U.S. education wage differentials and finds evidence suggesting that computerization has increased skill-based wage premia in
841-752: Was made full professor at MIT in 2008 where he taught undergraduate courses titled "Microeconomic Theory and Public Policy" and "Putting Social Science to the Test: Experiments in Economics". In parallel to his position at MIT, Autor is or has been affiliated with several research institutions, including the National Bureau of Economic Research , the Poverty Action Lab , Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) and IZA World of Labor ,
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